Spy Cat

Thrilling & engaging without being too scary or dark. Of course there is a happy ending. The theme is not subtle, but not annoyingly in your face, either: The more you know, the more prepared you are, the more you'll be able to face challenges. Additionally, as the author says, "We can't control what bad people do, but we can choose how we react."

Highly recommended to families with anxious or sensitive children. Read it aloud to them at their pace, discuss throughout, give them a chance to get inspired to be braver or stronger. I wish I'd read something like this when I was young, as I'm still all too sensitive now.

Btw, the content is not more intense than so many books for this age group that are fantasy or historical fiction... it's show more intense because it happens to kids who are just like some of the kids we know, in a town that could be ours or our cousin's. It's very immediate.

Also it has plenty of discussion opportunities about humanitarian efforts, not just rescuing injured animals.

(rating rounded down from 3.5 only because most of my four-star books are significantly better/ ones I enjoyed more) show less

This book is about a kid named Alex and his super cool, mystery solving, cat, Pete. In the book, someone is robbing houses in the neighborhood and everyone wants to find out who has been robbing the houses! However, the robbers aren't stealing jewelry or expensive heirlooms, they're stealing pets! Pete gets kidnapped by the robbers on night, and Alex and his brother try to find Pete! Alex's brother ends up getting kidnapped when they find Pete. Pete and Alex try to figure out all the clues that are left behind to find Alex's brother. They end up finding Benjie at the end of the book thanks to Alex and Pete, the cat detective. I recommend this book for grades 3-5, maybe as a read aloud!

Ethan Armbruster
This book is realistic fiction.
This book is about a kid named Alex and has a friend named Rocky, but when Alex's friend's house gets robbed he starts freaking out. Sooner or later a new girl moves in and her grandmother hires cheap movers that are really burglars. Late at night they come but they don't drop thier furniture they take the furniture.Alex's cat Pete gets really into who took thier neighbor's stuff. One day Alex's house gets robbed but Alex's little brother gets stolen too. I would definetley recomend this book to anyone who is interested in mystery.

I really like reading this book, Spy Cat. I especially admired that the detective skills that Benjie has. Just incase the burglar doesn’t capture anyone from his family, he gets anything that might have the person’s DNA in it. Plus, when the burglar came with their car, he quickly wrote down the license number and looked at the burglars very closely. If it was another child, they must have screamed or cried in front of the burglars! Even if I knew that they were there, I would scream and cry very loudly and obviously get kidnapped by the burglars. Next time if I get captured by someone, I should be like Benjie and act like what he did when the burglars came. If they are in my house, I should stay quiet so they won’t kidnap me. show more Then, I will look at their car or their face and see what its looks like so the police will have some clues about how the burglars look like. Then I will call the police right away and tell them I need help. show less

Ethan Armbruster
This book is realistic fiction.
This book is about a kid named Alex and has a friend named Rocky, but when Alex's friend's house gets robbed he starts freaking out. Sooner or later a new girl moves in and her grandmother hires cheap movers that are really burglars. Late at night they come but they don't drop thier furniture they take the furniture.Alex's cat Pete gets really into who took thier neighbor's stuff. One day Alex's house gets robbed but Alex's little brother gets stolen too. I would definetley recomend this book to anyone who is interested in mystery.

00010588