The Healing of Texas Jake - Softcover

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has written more than 135 books, including the Newbery Award–winning Shiloh and its sequels, the Alice series, Roxie and the Hooligans, and Roxie and the Hooligans at Buzzard’s Roost. She lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland. To hear from Phyllis and find out more about Alice, visit AliceMcKinley.com.

Grade 4-6. In this sequel to The Grand Escape (Atheneum, 1993), house cats Marco and Polo temporarily leave their snug home to join up with the members of the Club of Mysteries. The feline club is headed by the ultra-tough (though badly wounded) Texas Jake, who commands each member to prove his worthiness to be his successor by performing a difficult task. Texas Jake's forceful personality has all the cats leaping to obey him, even the increasingly rebellious Marco. There isn't much plot here; most of the story hinges on the interplay between Texas Jake and the other cats, with Marco and Polo's perilous excursions in search of comfrey for his wounds adding some adventure. It's hard to understand why the two cats devote so much time to a club that gives so little in return; fans of The Grand Escape will have a little more insight into this matter and will enjoy following the lives of the cat brothers. The rather abrupt and anticlimactic ending will leave readers hanging, but will also give ample hope of a third installment to the story. Black-and-white sketches capture some of the more exciting scenes.?Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
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