Carlie Sorosiak

I used to have a cat called Leonard. A large orange tabby, my Leonard was composed, elegant, and very very cool. I don’t believe my Leonard was an alien, but then again - after reading this book, can anyone really be sure? 😆

Leonard (My Life as a Cat) is an absolutely wonderful romp of a book - you, (along with your middle-schooler) will laugh, will cry, and will be touched in in places you thought you’d squirreled away deep within your heart.

Leonard tells the story of an alien en show more route to Earth for a one month educational jaunt as a visiting human. In his native alien world, emotions are not experienced, allowing humans to provide mountains of interesting data for alien discovery. (In a hilarious side-note, Leonard learns much of what he knows of humanity through research based on old tv episodes of I Love Lucy).

Unfortunately, Leonard’s plans for his visit go awry when he mistakenly ends up surfacing on earth in the body of cat, in a location thousands of miles from his intended travels. He is now totally dependent now on human aid to allow him to make the rendezvous for his trip back home. Luckily for our hero alien (and the reader ), Leonard is rescued by a delightful eleven year old, Olive, and along the way learns a lot about being human, being loved, and how it feels to meet one’s soul mate.

This book is charming, engaging and crazy laugh out loud funny in many places. I just have to call out a few of Leonard’s (as-a-cat-wishing-he-was-human) observations

🖊 Humans write books, share thoughts over coffee, and make things for absolutely zero reason.

🖊 I wanted to try a cheese sandwich. I wanted to go to the movies. I wanted to walk with someone by a river on a blistering hot summer day.

🖊 Do you know how lucky you are to have eyebrows? Do you?

🖊 Perhaps this is as close as humans will come to infinity: gazing out at the sea, toes in the water, feeling a part of something huge, yet being very, very small themselves

And finally, what it all comes down to:

🖊 All it really takes, she’s taught me, is one good friend.

5 stars for this lovely lovely book.

A big thank you to LibraryThing, Early Reviewers program, the publisher, Walker Books US, and the author, Carlie Sorosiak, for an advance review copy of this book. All thoughts presented are my own. ❤️ show less

In a galaxy far, far away, beings are immortal. Each being, to celebrate one’s 300th birthday, is allowed to visit Earth for one month. The being can take on any form it likes… penguin, elephant, or human etc…and spend that month experiencing life on Earth in the chosen form. The beings study life on Earth by watching things like I Love Lucy shows. One of these aliens has been planning his trip to Earth for quite a while, and he is ready to take his place as a park ranger at show more Yellowstone National Park. He has dreamed of his month on Earth. Leonard says, “I’d … carry many useful things in my pockets: a Swiss Army knife, a butterfly net, a variety of pens for writing. Humor is a valued trait among humans, so for an entire year, I exclusively prepared jokes.” He wants to hold an umbrella in his hands, and he really can’t wait to have hands. But sometimes excitement overcomes one and one loses focus. This is what happens to our little alien. He loses focus on his way to Yellowstone, and instead of becoming a park ranger there for the month; he becomes a cat in South Carolina, rescued from a storm by an eleven-year-old girl named Olive. I absolutely loved every word of this book. It made me laugh out loud, it had lots of tension to keep the pages turning, and it brought me to tears. The story concept is unique, the characters are all believable and interesting, there is lots of humor, and the writing is spectacular. Every human that is or was ever owned by a cat…or an alien…should read this little treasure.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest opinion. The views expressed by this reviewer are entirely my own. show less

A fox's adventure comes to life and digs deep in a tale full of magic, hope, and the wonder of friendship.

The fox is hungry, but the human, who often gives it a fish, hasn't appeared for several days. Instead, a girl, her granddaughter, has taken her place. The fox is anything but a fan of humans but can't deny the odd connection it shares with this girl. It even seems to experience her dreams. But then, the two share more than the fox first believes and soon join together on a search to show more find the missing woman. Their journey will take them beyond what they first can see as the magic of the lake and area unfold.

The author does a wonderful job at bringing the fox to life by allowing it to tell the tale from its point of view. The thoughts are clear and understandable, while holding just the right amount of clever personality to let sympathy grab hold. It's fear of humans gains depth as more about the fox's past comes to light, and that while Bee, the young girl, accompanies the fox and gains its trust little by little through her calmer, more open personality. It's a beautiful balance and allows their special friendship to blossom and bloom. All along there's enough secrets, magic, tension, and even a bit of humor to make the scenes grab and the plot flow.

There are messages surrounding loss, friendship, loyalty, and the respect for nature. This last one breathes through most of the story and mixes with the magic to form an enchanting atmosphere. The entire read holds an almost lyrical feel, which will connect better with some readers than others. Animal tale fans are sure to find themselves drawn into the magical mix and will find much to enjoy. show less

Adored this.

Leonard, an alien, has a once in a lifetime opportunity to embody any creature on earth for one month. He has his heart set on being a park ranger, however, a mix-up on his path to earth turns him into a cat. Almost immediately Leonard needs rescuing and it just so happens that eleven year old Olive is in the right place at the right time and she’s desperately in need of a friend.

The book is told from Leonard’s point of view, an intelligent and kind alien who is very much show more sensitive to Olive’s feelings and not only is he pretty ingenious when it comes to communicating via crayons and laptops, he can talk to other animals as well (pretty much every conversation with Stanley the dog is a gem thanks to Stanley’s obsession with birds). There is also plenty of cat behavior going on which you don’t need to be a cat person to find entertaining, that along with quirks like Leonard’s list of human activities he wants to try, and his fascination with cheese sandwiches and I Love Lucy, sprinkle levity throughout the story.

I loved Olive, she is just such a sweetheart with her warmth, her thoughtfulness and her daisy barrettes. Unlike her mom’s awful boyfriend, I found Olive’s habit of talking about animal facts charming and it speaks to the level of the writing that even without Olive having her own POV, I had such a strong sense of her emotional life, my heart frequently went out to her, dipping and lifting right along with her.

I fear that the alien/cat thing might have some readers thinking this will be too odd for them and that would be unfortunate as it’s a mostly down to earth story, if you give it a try, Olive and Leonard’s friendship might just win you over within the first couple pages.

I received this ARC through a giveaway. show less