Gr 4-6-In contrast to the powerful and affecting YA novel Speak (Farrar, 1999), Anderson's entry in this animal-centered series reads like vapid, formulaic fiction. Sunita is one of a group of student volunteers at the Wild at Heart animal clinic. She has a special relationship with Socrates, the clinic cat, and badly wants a feline of her own. Her parents, of course, are dead set against it, and her chances seem even bleaker after a rabies scare and the discovery of a community of dangerous feral cats. Predictably, Sunita does eventually get her pet, but not before readers have slogged through a veritable primer on feline care and animal control. This story will likely satisfy only the most avid fans of animal fiction.-Ronni Krasnow, formerly at Arlington County Public Library, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.