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    Caterpillar Summer
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    Caterpillar Summer
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    Caterpillar Summer
    Ebook248 pages4 hours

    Caterpillar Summer

    By Gillian McDunn

    4/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Cat is the glue holding her family together. When her little brother Chicken has a meltdown, she knows just how to calm him, whether it's scratching his back or reading his favourite book. They've always had a special bond. But with their mum working extra hard after their dad's death, Cat is struggling to keep everything afloat.

    When Cat and Chicken unexpectedly end up spending the summer with the grandparents they've never met, Cat suddenly has the space to be a kid again. Gradually, she discovers that days on Gingerbread Island are full of fishing, fireflies and new friendships – as well as a lifetime of family secrets. Could this summer be Cat's chance to bring her fractured family together again?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateJul 11, 2019
    ISBN9781526606280
    Author

    Gillian McDunn

    Gillian McDunn is the award-winning author of Caterpillar Summer, The Queen Bee and Me, These Unlucky Stars, Honestly Elliott, the Schneider Family Book Award Honor winner, When Sea Becomes Sky, and Trouble at the Tangerine. Her books have been Parents magazine best book of the year, Kirkus Reviews best book of the year, and Junior Library Guild, IndieNext, and Bank Street College of Education Best Books selections. When she isn't reading or writing, she is probably trying a new recipe, playing a board game, or learning something new. She lives near Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, children, and a very silly dog named Friday. www.gillianmcdunn.com @gillianmcdunn

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    Reviews for Caterpillar Summer

    4/5

    23 ratings4 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This is a middle grade contemporary story about two kids and what they learn on their summer vacation.Cat has just finished fifth grade. She has a younger brother called Chicken who has just finished first grade. Chicken has some issues that sounded to me like he would fit somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. He is subject to "meltdowns." He is bright and very focused on sharks. Lately, he has taken to running off. Cat spends a lot of time taking care of Chicken so that their mother can write her picture books about Caterpillar and Chicken which Cat sees as loosely based on their life. Cat is old enough to remember the father that they lost to cancer when Chicken was a baby. She thinks of herself as the glue that holds her family together. But, as she is growing older, she is beginning to feel the restrictions that taking care of Chicken are adding to her life. They are looking forward to a Summer vacation in Atlanta where her mother is teaching a writing seminar and they will be able to spend time with their best friends who recently moved away. Things fall apart when the friend Rishi's family has to take an emergency trip to India to take care of his grandmother.Cat's mom decides that the kids should spend time with her parents on an island in North Carolina. Cat has never met those grandparents. Apparently their mom and their grandfather had some sort of falling out. Cat is worried about taking care of Chicken and getting to know her stranger grandparents. She is also very disappointed that she won't be able to spend as much time as she wanted with her mother.The grandparents and the island come as a pleasant surprise. Grandma Lily is good with Chicken which allows Cat to be a child herself instead of a caregiver. Her grandfather takes a bit longer to warm up to the kids but Cat is a persistent child. Between new friends, biking and a fishing contest, Cat comes to love living on the island and becomes determined that her mother and grandfather make up their differences so that they don't lose track of these new people. Cat is thoughtful and older than her age mainly because of the responsibility she feels for her little brother and for her mother. The story was moving and engaging and I read it in one sitting. I recommend it for thoughtful middle grade readers.
    • 4/5
      Sweet book about being the reliable one in a family -- the kid who takes care of everything when one parent is worked and the other has passed and your younger brother is slightly neurodivergent. Love how Cat's estranged grandparents manage to slip into her life slowly and take the weight off without forcing confrontations or moving too fast. It's also a good book about a magical escape of a place and friendships and sharks and fishing.
    • 4/5
      Touching MG summer read about family and finding time for oneself.
    • 3/5
      When the family's summer arrangements go awry, Cat and Chicken's mother sends them to North Carolina to stay with her parents whom the kids have never met. Clearly there is some kind of estrangement between daughter and parents. Cat struggles to connect with her grandfather and tries to figure out what happened between him and Mom.