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. 

2014 Award Nominations Challenge

This is a year of challenges for me,  all of them good and positive in their own way, for example I have challenged myself to run a 5K,  grow a vegetable garden, and read more.  Okay, that last one is not really a challenge since I already love to read. So I decided to truly make it a challenge and read all the 2014 award nominated in our state.  In Illinois, we have four main award groups ranging from Kindergarten to high school grades including picture books, non-fiction, and YA novels. The Monarch books are for K-3 children books, the Bluestem  comprises books for 3 through 5th grade, Rebecca Caudill books for Young readers (4-8th grade), and the Abraham Lincoln for high school students.  Last year, I managed to read most of the Abe Lincoln , a good portion of the Monarch books, and a few Bluestem. Sadly, my Rebecca Caudill books list went untouched.

The combined lists total 82 books! The good news is that I have already read some of them- Yippee. I will update these lists as I read the books and post short reviews and links to the our library catalog so you can check them out.