Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech

Book Jacket

Jack
Room 204--Miss Stretchberry

February 25

Today the fat black cat
up in the tree
by the bus stop
dropped a nut on my head
thunk
and when I yelled at it
that fat black cat said
Murr-mee-urr
in a
nasty
spiteful
way.

I hate that cat.

This is the story of
Jack
words
wounds
silence
teacher
and cat.

Review

I love cats, so of course I adored this book (not what you'd expect from the title, but people change).  The way Jack described their giddy playfulness and silliness was evocative, just like poems ought to be.  Skitter McSkitters sounds awesome.

It is extremely unlikely that Miss Stretchberry would move up to teach Jack again for another school year, and spend the whole year on poetry, but do I care?  Nope.  This time she teaches a bit more of the technical side of poetry, and it was cool to see Jack explore the worlds of alliteration, similes, and onomatopoeia.

The highlight of this book, though, is Jack's slow description of his mother.  His questions about hearing sounds, feeling sounds, and seeing sounds were simply wonderful.  Magic in word form.  Mostly because of these entries, I felt like Hate That Cat was a much better showing than Love That Dog.  Which makes sense, as he is now a year older and begins the story fiercely in love with poetry and the magic it can inspire.

Five out of five bowls of milk.

Release Date: February 2010
Reading Level: Grade 3+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: Not currently in our collection.