The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook

The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook by Joanne Rocklin.

This is a sweet story about two siblings- Oona and Freddy-  who are trying to cope with life after the death of their dad. Zook, short for Zucchini, is their rescued cat and the one thing that keeps them going. When Zook is sick Oona decides to tell Freddy about Zook's previous lives since everyone knows cats have nine lives.  Oona has a way of incorporating their own life and adventures into her storytelling of  Zook's previous lives . A bit slow at the beginning it quickly picks up and pulls the reader into the stories.

Wild River

Wild River by P. J. Petersen.

This is a super quick read with all the action taking place in one short day or long from our protagonist's perspective.  Ryan is forced to go with his older brother Tanner kayaking down the Boulder river for a day of fun followed by a night of camping.  He rather stay home playing his video games.  The first rapids are not bad but when they hit a major bump  Ryan is forced to figure how to find help before it is to late.  In an odd turn of events his video game playing skills would become very resourceful.

The entire time I was reading this book I kept thinking about Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.  Petersen's book is the same premise- young boy in the wild trying to survive- but while in Hatchet it takes over a week for Brian to be rescued in Wild River the entire action takes place in less than a day. Predictable story of the "boy versus wild" type. 

Summer Reading Updates

It has been a long, long time since my last post but it just seems it was yesterday that I was doing my last storytime before jumping into summer reading and school visits.  I visited all the schools in our district and talked up our awesome "Paws to Read" summer programs. 

During the summer we put our regular storytime schedules on hiatus and move outdoors with Story Hour on the Road. Each week we visit a different park and do stories, sing songs, do fingerplays & rhymes, and a small craft.  The kids love it and it is a great way to get the entire family involved.  We also host special programs at the library ~Nature Creatures, Magicians, Lego Club, Racing Car show, etc. 

With only three weeks to go I am already in full planning mode for Fall storytimes.  This Fall I will adding two additional programs to the ones I already do~ Baby Bloomers, Crawlers, Totally Tots & Bagels with Buddies.  I will host a PJ storytime "Bedtime Stories" and a bilingual storytime "Los Cuentos".  They will be both on Tuesday evenings once a month. 

I will keep updating the blog with new books and some of our Award Nominated books~ lots to read this summer.