Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate

The One and Only Ivan is one of my favourite reads of all time.  It is so beautifully written and has a great lesson too.  Fits perfectly with the grade four curriculum.  The new cover of Crenshaw captured my attention right away and the Applegate name drew me in.

This is not a book to judge by it's cover.  The cover suggests a light read about a boy and an imaginary cat.  Which is what the book is about but there is so much more.  Jackson is a young boy with a lot to deal with.  Jackson's dad has MS.  When things get too bad he's forced to leave his job and try and make ends meet but unfortunately the ends don't meet and the family ends up homeless.  Much more serious topics then the cover makes you imagine.  To deal with these issues Jackson creates Crenshaw.  A large and mischievous cat.  This was ok when he was little but now Jackson is years old and once again facing homelessness.  Crenshaw is back but isn't Jackson too old for an imaginary friend?

Crenshaw is a beautiful story with some fun, but a very sensitive and serious story as well.  Not quite what you would expect from the cover.  Strange that I read two books with children affected by MS in a row.  That was totally random.  This was a book that I was recommending to some of my stronger grade 3 readers but now that I know the mature theme I would place it more with grade 5.