THE ADVENTURES OF PHATTY & PAYASO
CENTRAL PARK
by Marie Unanue
iUniverse
Middle Grade Adventure
194 pages
Phatty the cat loves nothing more than spending his days balanced atop his favorite chair gazing out his windows at Central Park below. Everything is simply fan-tabby-lous until one day when the meanest hawk in the park lands on his terrace and makes a terrifying announcement that he is coming for Phatty and his furry little friends. When Phatty decides he is tired of being a scaredy-cat, he jumps into a laundry bag and escapes to Central Park to stop Crawler the bully hawk once and for all. But his unplanned operation goes horribly wrong when he finds himself alone and lost in the park. When his best friend, Payaso, realizes his partner in crime is missing, he teams up with several animals to find Phatty. As the band of furry pals set out on a hilarious journey, they quickly realize that if they put aside their differences and work together, it might just be enough to save a lovable undercat—and each other. In this animal adventure novel, a cat on a mission to stop a bully hawk must face his fears all alone in a scary park while a group of unlikely friends attempts to rescue him.
MY TIDBITS
With cats to cuddle and adore, this book goes on great adventures and hits upon important lessons about friendship and bullying.
Phatty has a wonderful cat life. He lays on his favorite chair and everything in life is good. When a hawk appears and threatens to hurt Phatty, his friends and rob his master's jewelry, Phatty is besides himself. Luckily, his friends are ready to help him, and an adventure is underway.
I'm not usually a huge friend of stories with animals as the main characters, but these cats had so much personality that it's hard not to get pulled in. Phatty is in a league all of his own with a bit of an attitude, laziness, a humongous heart, determination, loyal to a fault, and yet, a chicken in his own right. His friends each are full of their own pizzazz, making this a fun story.
The plot moves along quickly and takes several unexpected twists and turns. At times, there was a bit much going on, but considering this is the beginning to a series, that leaves wonderful ties to continue with later on. There are a few logic holes like when Phatty suddenly writes a note in English. But these are easy to overlook and fantasy takes control.
A real treat can be found in the illustrations—the book has several nice big ones. These add just the right amount of fun to the book and deserve bonus points.
The messages come through loud and clear without being preachy. There is bullying, but also wonderful moments of friendship. The author does a great job allowing each character to have their own problems in these areas, so that it doesn't only concentrate on one or two completely. Even the 'cool' cats, like Payaso, has self-doubt at moments. The way these problems are handled is encouraging and leaves a smile on the face.
Summed up, this is a fun read which especially cat friends will enjoy.
And here she is...
Marie Unanue is the new author of the children’s book series, “The
Adventures of Phatty & Payaso.” Marie has always been an avid
reader and an activist for children who are bullied. As a kindness
advocate, she hopes to inspire children across the world to remember
to always treat each other with kindness and compassion. The former
anchor of “Travels with Marie,” a weekly travel review program,
Marie Unanue is also the former vice president of sales and
marketing of Honeymoons.com and former owner of Beyond
Compare Events, an event planning, marketing and public relations
firm. Marie is involved in many charitable endeavors including sitting
on the board of the C&J Unanue Foundation, and the New York
City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade Foundation. Marie resides with her
husband Andy and their animals in NYC and Mantoloking, NJ. Visit
her at www.kindallthetime.com.
www.letsallbekind.com
Twitter: @marieunanue
Instagram: @marieunanueauthor
An Interview with
Marie Unanue
How did you become passionate about bullying?
As a child I was bullied, I can remember what it felt like to not fit in at times. I wasn’t a jock, I
wasn’t the cheerleader, and I wasn’t in with the “cool” crowd. I kind of just floated along and
befriended anyone that wanted to be friends. When I saw how my overweight cat ran from the
birds on the terrace I imagined how hard it is to be an overweight child in school, or the child that
isn’t cool or doesn’t fit in. I wanted to write a book that spoke to children about that feeling.
We know that bullying is an age-old problem, and it has only been amplified now that social
media has allowed the bullies a platform after the children leave the classroom. I am hoping that
children will learn how to handle bullies from this story and more importantly, I am hoping that
the bullies see how horrible it is to be bullied and make better choices when dealing with kids
they don’t like, or that don’t fit in. My characters all have strengths and weaknesses and they are
all working on how to use their strengths to help them to overcome their weaknesses; they are
also learning how to be vulnerable and take risks.
Children will also get a bird’s eye view of a character with special needs, Max, the main boy in
my story. He is on the spectrum and suffers badly when other children don’t include him, or
chastise him. This story allows kids to see all different perspectives on bullying.
What inspired you to write this book?
While writing from my home office for various publications reporting on the latest and greatest in
honeymoons and weddings, I found another muse for my writing, my animals. After months of
working from my home, I couldn't help but turn my attention to my crazy furry family. Daily I
found myself laughing at something crazy and off the wall my cats or dog would do. While,
watching my animals, and as crazy as it sounds, my neighbor’s Cat, interact with each other, I
found a story inside of my heart I needed to share.
From that moment on, I turned my writing from weddings and honeymoons in an entirely new
direction, a four-legged furry and funny direction. I focused on my overweight cat and his unique
friend from the apartment next door, Payaso, in time, I dreamt up a 'tail' about a bunch of friends
overcoming obstacles and their own fears and insecurities while going on an adventure in Central
Park.
I wanted the story to focus on kindness and the importance of strong character traits, like
grit, zest, social intelligence and so forth. I wanted the animals to teach lessons by examples on
how to treat each other with unconditional love, acceptance and empathy. I wanted to reachchildren in a way that would make them pause and reconsider how they were
going to treat each other going forward after reading the book. I loved that I
was able to mix in personalities, ethnicity and ability and offer children
characters that had difference strengths and weaknesses that they would
relate with.
What is special about the setting of “The Adventures of Phatty & Payaso?”
Most of the story takes place in a New York city apartment overlooking Central Park. When
Phatty the cat realizes a large hawk has plans to rob his home, he takes it upon himself to venture
out into Central Park and try and find the Central Park Zoo Keeper to help him capture the hawk.
Shortly after his leaving the safety of his apartment his friends head out into Central Park to find
him. This adventure story lets children experience life in Central Park... in the greatest city in the
world
How does your book handle its special needs character?
The book addresses how today’s children familiarize and connect with children that have special
needs and/or suffer from the ability to adapt or fit in with social groups. I want to offer children a
different perspective on the challenge some children face on a daily basis to fit in, feel comfortable
or feel/be included. On several occasions throughout the book, children are given examples of how
small acts of kindness, behavior modifications, or considerate actions towards someone struggling
to fit in makes a large impact on that person’s life.
I became interested in Autism Spectrum Disorder because I have a friend who is a specialist with
children on the spectrum, and there is nothing in literature that helps children understand autism or
how to treat that child. Because of that, children and parents can both be scared of these
children—it may be frightening because they may act differently and not communicate in the same
way. I wanted to write a character that had tics but was a really sweet soul, for children to see that
just because someone may not be the same as you, that they may still have something important to
share with you. “Just because my friend rocks back and forth, he’s not strange—that’s just how he
communicates” and we can understand what that means with a little bit of background
information.
Autism is so broad that every child is different, but like Max, they may all long to fit
in, have friends, and be part of a group. Because Max is on the spectrum, he has trouble with
communication, and in this story we see him challenge himself and realize that he can handle
himself way better than he ever imagined.
You set out to write this book in part to help develop positive character traits. Which are the
ones most described in the book?
We know through research from the non-profit organization Character Lab (Characterlab.org) that
there are several character skills missing in many of today’s children. They have discovered that
character strengths are malleable, and surprisingly little is known about how they can be
intentionally cultivated. Character Lab is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2013 by
one scientist and two educators: Angela Duckworth, author of “Grit,” and the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of
Pennsylvania; Dave Levin, co- founder of the KIPP public charter schools;
and Dominic Randolph, Head of Riverdale Country School.
“The Adventures of Phatty & Payaso” focuses on six skills that are lacking in today’s children.
They are:
● Curiosity: Taking an interest in ongoing experience for its own sake; finding subjects and topics
fascinating; exploring and discovering.
● Gratitude: Being aware of and thankful for the good things that happen; taking time to express
thanks.
● Grit: Finishing what one starts; persisting in a course of action in spite of obstacles.
● Self-control: Regulating what one feels and does in the service of goals and standards; being
disciplined; controlling one’s emotions.
● Social Intelligence: Being aware of the motives and feelings of other people and oneself;
knowing what to do to fit into different social situations; knowing what makes other people
tick.
● Zest: Approaching life with excitement and energy; not doing things halfway or half heartedly;
living life as an adventure; feeling alive and activated.
The book demonstrates these important and necessary character skills through the actions and
behaviors of the books characters. I studied these traits and then developed which character would
have which skills as a strength or area for improvement. Together, the characters all possess these
traits and throughout the story they teach each other, through actions and by example, how to
grow and develop these skills. Throughout
the story, each character learns something about
themselves they didn’t know, while realizing that friendship is more than just someone to play
with. Friendship is about kindness, helping and caring about others, and doing the “right thing,”
even when the “right thing” is difficult.
