After re-reading the first one of course I was going to end up re-reading the next one. Another lovely kids adventure about cats and magic. I do also like the fact that Rosemary's mum is a single parent and this is just treated as normal - I'll definitely encourage my daughter to read these in a few years. ( )

I am so glad this trilogy has been re-issued. A lovely story involving cats and witches and invisibility and nefarious plots against the King. What I never noticed ages ago is that the side plots are just as delightful as the main. The chemist is a dear, and the pets in the shop are hilarious. I'm glad to have revisited this, and am looking forward to Carbonel and Calidor, which I don't remember at all. ( )

Charming, with just enough old fashioned adventure. (Plus, Z is convinced that the king might have diabetes - hence the name - Carb/onel.) ( )

Almost as good as the first book in the trilogy. This one had slightly more action, though it took a while to get started. And many more loveable cats. Though, sadly, not as many loveable human characters (there are still some though). I love how she does different regionalisms for different characters, but there was less of that in this book. ( )

This is the second volume in the middle grade-level Carbonel series. I last read it was a library copy about 15 years ago.

A year after setting Carbonel free from a witch's spell, teenagers Rosemary and John reunite to spend the summer together. To their delight, King Carbonel returns. After going to a pharmacist for a special prescription, the two drink an elixir and can hear Carbonel again--and all the other animals and insects around. Carbonel has a special request. He must leave for a meeting of kings, and he's concerned about the well-being of his two young kittens. Rosemary and John agree to tend them, but soon enough trouble merges. Carbonel's old witch is up to mischief again, this time plotting with the ambitious cat-queen of a neighboring city. The two children must do everything they can to save the kittens and keep Cat Country from falling into outright war.

This book is as charming as I remembered. It's so delightfully British, full of eccentric characters with magic revealing itself in unexpected ways. I'm so grateful that these books were finally reprinted! Mind you, it does feel dated in some ways (this second book was published in 1960) but that's all part of its charm. ( )