The "Then Pet" crew of the Gooneybird -- Puffy and PJ and Razzmatazz and Rudy -- are all vaguely reminded by the different Cousins of someone they used to know. That is because, in their first lives, they were all real-life pets of the Cousins' parents. Parents do not appear in the Cousin Chronicles books, but their pets do.

Also, there's some confusion about whether or not Lukas and Jaksen remind them of "Chris" and "Martin." That's because Chris and Martin Kratt are the stars of the educational TV program "Wild Kratts," at the time a favorite of Lukas and Jaksen. They wanted their characters to be like the "Wild Kratts," which comes into play later in the book.

Empress Puffy the Furest declared all the Cousins reminded her of "Chris." That's because a pure-white longhair cat named Puffy, named for a cat in the "Dick, Jane and Sally" children's books that taught me how to read (see the title of this podcast), was 𝘮𝘺 first pet.

Sixty years ago.

One more thing. If you are very sharp, and well-read, and pay very close attention, early in Chapter 5 you will hear where Book 1 got its rather unusual title.

-- Chris Botkin