This month's book reviews

A story about a cat who likes music
and understands human speech

When the kitten was born, he had seven toes on each foot. Cats normally only have five toes. The McDonahue family called him "Toes" because of his seven toes. Sadly, the other kittens in the litter treated him like a freak and wouldn't play with him. So Toes just spent a lot of time wandering off on his own. He slipped into the living room and watched TV. He was pretty smart for a cat, so he started to learn what different words meant as he watched varied shows on TV and as he responded to the humans around him. He also learned to love classical music, since Mrs. McDonahue played it just about every day. The family knew they had an unusual cat in Toes.

When he was only partially grown, Toes decided to take off on his own and explore the town. He thought he could find his way back if he wanted to return home. But soon he was lost and nothing looked familiar. He was getting cold and hungry, so he pushed through a piece of board that was covering a broken basement window. He dropped to the floor in the basement area of an apartment house.

In the strange basement, Toes made two discoveries. One was at the top of the stairs, where he would see pants cuffs and old tennis shoes through the crack under the door as somebody walked around. Whoever lived up there, he also seemed to play classical music quite often. Toes' other discovery was the plump mice who also lived in the basement. He was tempted to eat the mice, but they had seemed so happy when they danced to the music coming from upstairs. Because Toes didn't kill them and eat them as he was tempted to do, the mice started bring him food in from the garbage cans outside. Toes and the mice became good friends.

Some time passed before Toes was discovered by the man who lived in the apartment above. The man recognized right away that Toes was an unusual cat. Toes moved into the apartment and the two became very close friends. The man was a classical violinist and Toes came to love listening to him play and respond to the music.

The man, who wanted to play in the orchestra, had once been turned down in an audition. Because of his disappointment, he led the lonely life in the apartment. With Toes' companionship and his response to the man's music, the violinist regained his confidence and his music began to improve.

Toes began to plan how he could get the man another audition so he could play in the orchestra. What could a common cat do to help the man achieve his dream? As a reader, you will be amazed at what Toes was able to accomplish. Be prepared, though, for an ending that is both happy and sad to this story of a smart and caring cat.

 

A girl on a family visit has to cope
with a dangerous killer and an avalanche

Molly is a twelve-year-old who is to spend a month long visit with her aunt, uncle, and a cousin who is her same age. She is from Los Angeles and her relatives live on a ranch in the mountains of Washington. Molly's mom is on a business trip to the Orient.

Molly finds that her aunt and uncle raise llamas on their mountain ranch. The animals are moved around to different pastures to graze on the side of a mountain. On part of the ranch land is an abandoned ski lift from a ski resort that had gone bankrupt a few years earlier.

The visit started off well with an affectionate welcome from her aunt and uncle. Her aunt even encouraged Molly in her desire to make chocolate chip cookies for them all using Molly's mother's favorite recipe. Molly thought she would really feel at home and enjoy her visit. Then things started to go wrong. Her cousin, Glendon, seemed to hate her on sight and began treating her like an intruder. Her aunt fell into a coma in the middle of the night and had to be rushed to the hospital. Naturally, Molly's uncle went to stay by her bedside. Molly was left at the isolated ranch with only her hateful cousin. He seemed to believe that Molly had, for some unknown reason, poisoned her aunt, his mother.

The terror began for Molly when she was outside and someone tried to run her down with the farm truck. While she was in the barn, a heavy bale of hay fell from the loft above and just missed landing on her. Was Glendon trying to kill her? Why would he hate her enough to kill her? Or was it someone else who might be trying to kill them both?

There's plenty of suspense and action in "Nightmare Mountain" by author, Peg Kehret. The llamas, the truck, the ski lift, an avalanche, and even Molly's chocolate chip cookies come to play a part in the plot before the mystery of Nightmare Mountain is solved.