On a good day, Chicken liked to wander. On a bad day, Chicken would bolt. But no matter what, Cat loved him as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge, as deep as the sea floor, and as fierce as a shark bite.
Sixth Grade Book Club Members Think…
Caterpillar Summer is a wonderful, figurative language filled story, that shows readers how important it is look at situations from others’ point of view. Gillian McDunn teaches us that family, no matter how fractured, is what helps get us through each and every day.
Alyssa says:
When we are young, and in the process of growing up ourselves, it is sometimes difficult to understand why the adults in our lives act the way they do. When Cat and her brother Chicken spend a summer with grandparents they have never met, Cat is able to come away with a different perspective of her family and learns to have empathy for the adults in her life.
Lizzie & Maddie say:
Teachers should use this book because it will help students who don’t come from “perfect families” understand they are not alone. The main character Cat is trying to rebuild the relationship between her mom and grandfather and we think some of our friends, who have family struggles of their own, will feel relieved that they are not alone. The text illustrates this when Cat’s mom says “We have a lot to talk about…He had something to apologize for and so did I. We have a wall between us that was built over time from before I was your age.”
