Such a cute read, even more fun now that I have a cat of my own ( )

This short, simple tale about a cat that is adopted by a young couple and is eventually displaced by a newborn baby was a lot of fun to read, not to mention very true to cat ownership. In life, cats certainly do often get ignored, even pushed aside, when important things are happening, and it seems perfectly all right. But the indignation from the cat's perspective felt completely justified too. I only wish cats really understood as much as Socks did in the book—it would make certain parts of life a lot simpler.

I haven't read much Cleary in my life, maybe just a Ramona book or two when I was younger, but I think I'll have to remedy that, as I just loved this story so much. The fact that I'm heavily a cat person probably affects my feelings on it, but my 10-year-old daughter, who is pretty equal on dogs and cats, also loved it. One thing's for sure, I'll never look at my cats the same way again. ( )

Sara and I have taken to reading childrens' books before bed when we both have the time. This was, of course, her choice.

She had apparently read and loved it when she was younger, or has been infected with such an acute case of Toxoplasmosis that even the thought of cats creates feelings of euphoria.

This is among the only reasons I can see that one would want to reread this book. The plot is...thin. A couple buys a cat and has a baby. The baby distracts the couple from the cat, and the cat doesn't like it. Eventually, he gets used to it. The end. There is no conflict, and no character development. People hove in and out of this cat's life: Babysitter (good!), Mother-in-Law (bad!), but no one changes.

This book is abysmally dull if you're not a cat-lover. ( )

This book would be a perfect beginning chapter book for early readers. The vocabulary is controlled, which would allow the reader to read with confidence. This story has a Scholastic Readability level of about 3rd grade. It fits in the genre of contemporary realism because the events could happen in the modern day, but they did not. The story highlights a very real problem in the world. A nice couple adopts a cat, Socks, and it lives happily with them until the couple has a baby. Then, the baby becomes the main focus of the house and steals some of the cat's attention away from the couple. Students with younger siblings could easily relate to this topic and learn to deal with the changes happening in their homes. In my classroom, I would likely choose this story as a class read aloud. I would read the story to my students and have them predict what will happen next and create solutions of their own to the problems at hand. I remember reading this story in my third grade class and absolutely loved it. The cat is not given human qualities, so it can still classify as contemporary realism. ( )

It started off good, and the cat's jealousy was even funny. At first. And then his humans started speaking to him more rudely, and it just upset me. They wanted a cat. They got a cat. He doesn't have to have all the attention. And the baby comes first. But the pet is still your responsibility. There's no reason to be rude. Also, the way they allowed their family to come in and speak to Socks that way, and allowing the kids to pull his tail was so not cool.

This is the only Beverly Cleary book I could not finish. ( )