Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat

Written by Johnny Marciano, Klawde (2019) is the first installment in the Evil Alien Warlord Cat series. The book alternates between the perspectives of Klawde (an evil warlord cat from the planet Lyttyrboks) and Raj (an average Earth boy who has just moved to a new town and wants to go home). The story unpacks this unlikely friendship by exploring the differences between humans, animals, and cultures. Klawde was nominated for several awards, including the Sasquatch Book Award (2022) and the Sunshine State Young Reader’s Award (2021). 

New York Times bestselling author Johnny Marciano has written several picture books and stories for young and middle-grade readers, as well as a range of nonfiction titles for adults. Under the name John Bemelmans Marciano, he has written three books in the Madeline series, which was begun by his grandfather, Ludwig Bemelmans. Currently, Marciano resides in New Jersey with his family. 

This guide refers to the 2019 first e-book edition of Klawde.

Plot Summary

The novel begins on the planet of Lyttyrboks, a world inhabited by cats, where the evil warlord Wyss-Kuzz (later renamed Klawde) is sentenced to banishment for his terrible deeds. He is sent millions of miles away to Earth, a backward planet inhabited by carnivorous ogres. Upon his arrival, Klawde quickly realizes that the tales of the planet’s horrors are both worse than he imagined and greatly exaggerated. While there are terrible tortures, such as water that falls from the sky, the ogres (humans) are not cat-eaters, nor are they as dangerous as the cats of Lyttyrboks were led to believe. Determined to return to Lyttyrboks and reclaim his empire, Klawde sets out to find humans that he can exploit to his advantage.

Klawde finds such humans in the form of Raj and his family, who have just moved to Oregon. Raj is disappointed about the move because he misses his friends and apartment in New York and isn’t looking forward to trying to make new friends. When Klawde shows up at his door, Raj begs his parents to let him keep the cat so that he won’t be alone. His parents agree but insist that Raj attend a nature camp for the summer. Though Raj is terrified of nature, he agrees to this arrangement because keeping Klawde is more important to him.

The chapters alternate between Raj’s struggles at survival camp and Klawde’s many unsuccessful attempts to figure out Earth humans and cats. When Klawde finally realizes that he will need a human’s help to build the right technology to return home, he reveals his identity to Raj, who is thrilled to realize that his cat can talk and is from another planet. As Raj helps Klawde to build a teleporter, boy and cat start to bond over their shared exiles—Klawde from Lyttyrboks and Raj from his former home in New York.

Meanwhile, at camp, Raj suffers through event after event in nature as he and the other campers work to prepare for Survival Night—a 24-hour game in which they must live off the land and avoid getting tagged out by their rival teams. Despite all of these challenges, Raj finds himself making friends, but he also makes enemies with a few tough-looking kids. Much to Klawde’s annoyance, Raj tells the cat about his troubles, and Klawde offers increasingly violent solutions sprinkled with a few words of wisdom.

Klawde finishes building his teleporter on Survival Night, but before he can return home, he receives a distress call from Raj, who is trapped up a tree while the mean kids and the erratic and unpredictable camp counselor lurk below. Unwilling to back down from a fight, Klawde rushes to Raj’s aid, attacking the counselor until the man, who hates cats, threatens to eat Klawde. Hearing this, Raj finds his inner warrior and rescues Klawde. The bullies realize that they don’t want to follow someone who would be willing to eat a cat, so they and Raj round up the rest of the campers and spend their last night at camp having fun.

When Raj gets home, Klawde is still there, and the two say goodbye. Raj is tearful, but Klawde is relieved to escape from Earth. With school starting soon, Raj is happy to have his new friends from camp, even if he misses his cat. Two weeks after Klawde leaves, he returns to Earth because he is betrayed by his most loyal follower and exiled yet again. He vows to find a way back to Lyttyrboks to exact his revenge.