Nutz!

Gr 3–5—Amos, half Persian and half alley cat, lives with Tyler and his mom, Francesca. Even though they reside in a scruffy part of town, never have enough money to pay the rent, and live next to Bruno, the canine terror of the block, Amos is happy to be off the streets with a belly full of gizzards and Chinese food. When Tyler rescues a baby squirrel from Bruno's jaws, Amos's contented home is disrupted. Not only does the squirrel hide his favorite catnip toy and litter the house with nutshells, but he burrows his way into Tyler's and Francesca's hearts, too. The squirrel perches on their shoulders, cracks nuts for Tyler to eat, and even learns to pee down the bathtub drain. While Nutz is fed exotic nuts, Amos is now restricted to cardboard-tasting diet food because Francesca thinks he is too fat. Meanwhile, Tyler and his mom are worried that Stinky Feet, the mean landlord, will find out about the squirrel and kick them all out. The standoff between Nutz and Amos goes on a bit long, but when Amos decides to run away, the adventure and humor in the last chapters will keep kids reading. The book is attractively designed in shades of brown with line drawings at the beginning of each chapter. On the other hand, the characters, drawn in the style of art found in Jeff Kinney's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series (Abrams), are not a good fit for this story, and they don't add additional insight.—Diane McCabe, Loyola Village Elementary School, Los Angeles