Hate That Cat by Shannon Creech

Jack is a dog kind of person.  He wants nothing to do with the creepy black cat that is sometimes waiting at his bus stop.  Once he gets to school his teacher, Mrs. Stretchberry, is going to spend the whole year on poetry.  I know that some of you may be smiling now, but many of you may be saying "Ugh!  That poor, poor boy."  Writing may not be Jack's favorite activity, but this year he has to write letters to his Language Arts teacher about what they are learning.  This book is made up entirely of Jack's letters.  Don't worry - you don't have to read the teacher's letters at all!  In the book, Jack explains that he doesn't like writing long lines, just short ones, so that's what he does.  Some times lines have just
one
                                        word
                                                   at
                                                         a
                                                                 time.
As Jack's random thoughts enter his letters you learn a lot about him.  He loves dogs.  His mother is deaf.  He hates cats.  Even thought his letters are written to a teacher, they are funny and sound like you are listening to one of your friends.  You will like this book if you like poetry, but you will also really like this book if you are afraid of poetry.  This would be an easy book to read over a weekend, or maybe in just one night!  I hope that you give it a shot.

Stats:
(c)  2008           Publisher:  HarperCollins            Number of Pages:  160