Article Title
Keywords
Excellent, Primary, Intermediate, Young Adult, Joanne Rocklin, Pets, Cats, Illness, Loss, Death, Grief, Stories, Tall-Tales, Lies, Siblings, Coming of Age, Family
Document Type
Book Review
Abstract
Ever since her father taught her about whoppers, Oona’s been a storyteller and she must tell some of her tallest to rescue Zook from the vet when he gets sick. To comfort her younger brother, Fred, about Zook’s condition, Oona assures him that Zook is only on the fifth of his nine lives. She regails him with tales of Zook’s past lives, each installment reflecting the outrage and betrayal she feels at her mother’s budding relationship with the man Oona believes abused Zook before her family adopted him. But when Oona learns more about “Dylan the Villain” she is forced to edit her own narrative, the secret only she knows about Zook, and the one story whose ending she’s never told. Through the love and support of her family Oona discovers that life does not always have endings you can control, but just like Zook’s fantastical past lives, if some stories don’t end then others can’t begin.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Loveless, Emily
(2016)
"The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook,"
Children's Book and Media Review: Vol. 37:
Iss.
1, Article 8.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cbmr/vol37/iss1/8