Curtis Manley

Thanks to Goodreads friend Kathryn for recommending this book to me!

This is the first time in a long while that a picture book not by Patricia Polacco has become a favorite picture book of mine.

Charming, sweet, funny book! It’s delightful!

I loved the cats. Not for the first time I wish I had a cats shelf. Verne and Stevenson are great cats. I love their expressiveness and distinct personalities. Their facial expressions are priceless and just looking at them had me smiling. They act like show more real cats but I love Nick’s interpretations of their actions. I loved the bond between Nick and Verne and the one he has with Stevenson too.

I appreciated how the story showed how reading can fire up our imaginations.

I loved how the story subtly showed learning differences, not in a qualitative way at all and I loved Nick’s patience and persistence and sense of fun as he was teaching his cats.

I loved the place the library has in this book, cat patron card and all.

This is a perfect book for children who love books & reading, kids who have challenges learning to read, reluctant readers, kids who love cats. I also highly recommend it to all teachers & tutors and parents and all people who read to and with children.

It’s beyond adorable. I can’t stop grinning.

I recommend this to all readers who can enjoy children’s picture books, especially those who particularly like cats, teaching, and of course books & reading.

5 very full stars! show less

Having always spent as much time as he can with his two cats, Verne and Stevenson, the eponymous Nick decides one summer that he will teach them to read. His efforts seem futile at first, but his patient persistence pays off, and soon Verne is a library card-carrying bibliophile. The grouchy Stevenson remains more difficult to persuade, until Nick and Verne discover his stash of drawings, and realize that he loves pirate tales. Soon Stevenson too is bitten by the reading bug...

A sweetly show more engaging tale from debut author Curtis Manley is paired with fun, appealing artwork from illustrator Kate Berube in The Summer Nick Taught His Cats to Read. As someone who was a bibliophile and library lover as a young child myself, as well as a devoted cat person, I was tickled by Nick's efforts to share his passion with his best friends. I appreciated the way in which he altered his teaching approach, in order to reach his "students," and I found the cats' expressions (especially Stevenson's!) amusing. I don't know that I loved this one quite as much as the friend who recommended it to me, but I certainly did find it enjoyable. Recommended to all young cat lovers and bibliophiles. show less

Nick does everything with his cats, Verne and Stevenson, except read. The cats are really not into the whole reading thing. Nick just can't fathom not sharing one of his favorite activities with his best buds, so he decides to teach them to read. At first, it doesn't go so well, but then Verne gets interested.

But not Stevenson. No matter how much fun Verne and Nick have reading together, Stevenson remains obdurate. But then they discover that it just takes a little searching to find the show more right book - and Stevenson becomes a reader. The rest of the summer is an exciting journey through books as Nick reads and adventures with his favorite friends.

Berube is a bright new talent in the picture book world and her watercolors are just perfect, showing the cats' opinion of being taught to read, from grumpy face to snarly whiskers, as well as Nick, a cheerful boy with a swirl of curls and an imagination that just doesn't stop.

While I'm usually not a fan of library or book-themed books - I feel like it's preaching to the choir and a bit self-indulgent - I can really get behind this one. It has a strong, humorous plot besides the "love reading" message and even sneaks in a subtle hint; Stevenson gets into reading after drawing and being allowed to choose his own books.

Verdict: A perfect summer read. Highly recommended.

ISBN: 9781481435697; Published 2016 by Paula Wiseman/Simon and Schuster; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

Grace has wanted a dog all her life, and finally finds one her parents can't say no to: a robot dog she builds herself from a kit. She names the dog Kit (aptly) but finds that having a dog that does everything exactly the same every time is kind of boring, so she adds some mischief to the code. But an accident teaches Grace that some commands have to be obeyed for safety's sake, so she repairs and adjusts her code to keep Kit out of danger.

Back matter includes "How to make anything better" show more (testing code in a sandbox), and step-by-step guidance for coding projects. Grace's code is included throughout the story for readers to examine.

*
Danny from next door took one look and laughed. "I could build a rocket and fly it to Pluto before you finish putting that together."
"Please do," said Grace.

See also: Rosie Revere, Engineer; The Most Magnificent Thing show less