This beautifully illustrated book is great for children in second grade. Annie's cat starts acting funny and leaves so Annie has no one to play with. She tries to find a new friend by leaving corn cakes at the edge of the woods. She comes to find that only big, mean, wild, grumpy animals would come to eat the corn cakes. Eventually she runs out of corn meal and the animals roar for their next meal, but Annie cannot make anything for them. Luckily, winter turns to spring and the snow melts so the animals go back into the woods and her pet cat comes back with three new baby kittens!

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This is a wonderful story about a girl who trys to replace her cat, Taffy after she disappears. She leaves corn cakes on the edge of the snow-covered forest and hopes a small animal will come for her to tame as a new pet, but to her dissapointment, all she finds are wild animals: a moose, a bear, and a wolf! She knows that she can't tame them, and becomes very sad because she misses Taffy. Then one spring morning she finds Taffy with her newborn kittens! This a great story about animals, friendship, and the changes of seasons. This book is on a second grade reading level.

For more information about the author and some activities that can accompany her books, visit: http://www.janbrett.com/ ( )

"Annie and the Wild Animals" begins in the cold winter when one day, Annie's cat started acting strange. Then it disappered. Annie found herself lonely, so she tried to find herself another pet by attracting wild animals with corn cakes. Many wild animals came including a moose, a bear, and wildcat. But none of these animals were friendly like Annie's cat, and soon the corn meal gave out so she couldn't make any more corn cakes. All of a sudden the winter snow melts away and the cat appeared again, followed by some new kittens. Animal loving children may be fascinated with Annie's tale, although some may be a little frightened by the press of wild animals at her door.

This book was a good example of a fantasy because the reader believes that the girl actually attracts all the wild animals when she leaves food out but in reality that would not actually happen. A Bear and Moose would not really just eat the food and leave the girl alone. Age appropriate: primary. Media: colored pencils. ( )