Sharon Creech

Jack Room 204—Miss Stretchberry February 25 Today the fat black cat up in the tree by the bus stop dropped a nut on my head thunk and when I yelled at it that fat black cat said Murr-mee-urrr in a nasty spiteful way. I hate that cat. This is the story of Jack words sounds silence teacher and cat.

A Novel

Hate That Cat

Sarah Sammis

Sometimes I just get a hankering to read something at random. I will go through binges where I'll pick a small stacks of books from my library. Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech caught my eye and I brought it home on a complete whim.

Boy am I glad I did. The book made me cry (after putting a half dozen poetry books on my wishlist first).

Jack keeps a poetry diary. He writes it for school but he relates day to day events of his life: the death of his dog, his run-ins with the mean cat up the street, his uncle who doesn't like poetry, his letters with living poets, and the kitten his teacher gives him.

As it's a middle grade book, it's a quick read. I tore through it over my morning coffee and breakfast. It left me feeling a wide range of emotions. When I was done reading it, I actually felt disappointed. If I could give the book a six out of five stars on GoodReads, I would.

Hate That Cat is the sequel to Love That Dog. I have since read Love That Dog and will post a review as soon as I can.

Adriana Gómez 

uuuffff, uuUUUFFFF

This was so goooood. So funny and cute. As I was reading, I was feeling more and more amazed. Reading this was like listening to a little boy telling stories, like watching cartoons. 

I liked this book more than the first one, and still, they're both really good.

Katie Day

Sequel to "Love That Dog" -- Jack one year on still writing poems for Miss Stretchberry in Room 204. Same format - poetry diary with poems he has to read at the back of the book. Discusses rhyme, rhythm, images, symbols, metaphors, onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, and consonance. The nominal query of the book is about cats, e.g., vs. dogs in life. The deep question of the book is, can you feel sounds instead of hear them? Like tapping out the rhythm of a poem. Because the book is a long love poem not only to his cat, but to Jack's mother, who is deaf and in the end when parents are invited to school for a poetry evening, Jack volunteers to do sign translation for his mother.

Laura Yaneth Martinez

Patty M.

Beautifully written using language that is simple for kids to understand, but holds deeper meanings that adults can relate to. Sharon Creech's undeniable talent is perfectly demonstrated in this sequel to her outstanding novel, Love That Dog. What an exquisite pair of novels written in verse.

Hate That Cat A Novel

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