The underneath by Kathi Appelt is a very interesting book about a calico cat that got kicked out of its home and sent to a forest and had kittens. The cat found a dog and became friends with him and I like that because it shows that animals that are supposed to hate each other become friends and it shows that even if your different you can still become friends. The cat found the dog because of the dogs singing. There was another person who was a human his name was gar face he was the antagonist of the book. He was bad because of child trauma and I like that because it shows what child trauma can do. The name of the dog was Ranger. Ranger and the cat and its kittens decide to live underneath a porch of Gar Face. Gar Face is trying to find them and feed them to alligators and thats why they hide underneath his porch, so he does not find them. It ends with the book focusing on a human instead a boy who has problems but finds love for the natural world. (Sven. Grade 6)

Rating: 4/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 3/5

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt is a realistic non-fiction type of book because it's about this mother cat and her babies. They heard cries from a stray dog deep inside a pit. The cat and the hound settled in a house but with a crooked old man named Gar Face. He was really mean to Ranger because he kicked him in the side with the metal part of his boots while the hound dog yelped in pain. This was also VERY realistic when Gar Face took one of the cat's babies and put it in a bag where he was going to drop him but luckily the cat could swim. While this was unfolding in front of the hound dogs and cat's eyes they yelped to the baby cat. There was a part when the grandmother was hit by a bullet and laid dying on the floor. (Juno. Grade 6)

Rating: 5/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 1/5