Gr 5-7-Alex Kendrill and his friend Rocky are exploring in the woods when they discover an illegal animal trap. Shortly thereafter, Alex witnesses a pig falling off the back of a truck driven by a reckless driver, and he and his friends and family rescue it. When its owner shows up to claim it, the Kendrills refuse to release it. When "Hogman" again attempts to reclaim the animal, he kidnaps Alex's cat, Pete. His family then sets out to locate the feline and prove that the man is involved in illegal trapping. Kehret has a unique writing style, and the text includes long stretches of story narrated by Pete. Some of these scenes are deliciously snarky, with the cat looking up words in the dictionary that start with the letters c-a-t and giving a detailed description of coughing up furballs. The technique is also effective when he describes what happens to him during his kidnapping. Animal lovers will get a kick out of this intriguing mystery.-Kristen Oravec, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Strongsville, OH Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Punctuated by italicized interjections from a feline coauthor, who inserts himself into the tale as a major character, this uncomplicated animal-rescue adventure opens with the discovery of an illegal game trap and closes with an arrest. In between, young Alex th friends, family, and, of course, his pet ces off against Hogman, a scruffy, abusive ne'er-do-well with a gun. Having helped rescue workers save a pig that falls from Hogman's recklessly driven truck, Alex suspects the tough-talking hermit of setting traps, but it's the cat who finds the evidence d who is nearly shot in the suspenseful climax. Despite major holes in the story's internal logic, young fans of Spy Cat (2002) and Stranger Next Door (2001) will enjoy watching the cat expedite Hogman's apprehension while grousing that his human associates are too dim to realize that he's trying to communicate with them.

Seven high school students find themselves trapped at their isolated, rural school for nearly a week when an unrelenting blizzard dumps upwards of ten feet of snow on southern New England. The first-person narrative immediately captures the claustrophobic atmosphere; it loses a little steam as it navigates the requisite obstacles for survival and the evolving group dynamic to an abrupt resolution.