Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn, 291 pages. Bloomsbury, 2019. $12.
Content: G
BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Cat just finished 5th grade. She is excited for the trip to Atlanta where her mom will teach a writing class for a few weeks. Cat (Caterpillar) is always looking out for her younger brother, Chicken. When her brother was born, Cat thought he looked like a chicken. The name stuck. Chicken has some problems, but Cat can always make him feel better and she understands him. They live in San Fransisco with mom. Dad died of cancer and they all miss him. Instead of seeing her friend in Atlanta, Cat and Chicken are dropped off at Gingerbread Island with a grandma and grandpa they do not know.
This was a most wonderful book, and I could not put it down. Gillian McDunn writes 11 year old girls so well! Cat is bright, hardworking and does her best to please the grown ups in her life. She will do anything to watch and protect her young brother, no matter how difficult it is or how much she just wants to do what girls her age do. She is great. The adults in the book are also great, and I liked the way they helped Cat and allowed her to sometimes just be a young girl. This is a heartwarming story. The way Gingerbread Island is described it made me want to visit there some time. It is an island off the coast of North Carolina.
Ellen-Anita, Librarian
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