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leighannsherwin 's review for:
Mallory and the Ghost Cat
by Ann M. Martin
At least there was a bit of mystery to this book. While the first book over looked the obvious and the second didn't have any sort of mystery or plot really until half way through, there is so much happening here. The more I read of Mallory as an adult, the more I find I relate to her, most of the time. Her spying antics in two super specials were dumb. Like Mallory I love reading and writing, though my writing dreams faded away and fictional stories turned into daily journals of the good, bad, exciting and mostly dull events of my everyday life. I also admire Mallory's great patience, I had one older brother and as kids I'm pretty sure we couldn't stand each other and only really hung around together because we lived out in the country and it was a long drive or bike ride to get to a friend's house. To deal with seven younger siblings I think I'd want to shoot myself. I always pictured grownup Mallory as living a childfree life after basically raising her siblings on her own since her parents were rather lax with all of them. Anyway onto the story. Mallory accepts a job with the Craines, who are not usual clients. Their aunt who normally cares for them broke her leg and so Mallory finds herself with a steady job caring for Margaret, Katie, and Sophie. While on the job she hears a cat somewhere in the house which is weird since the Craines don't have a cat. The girls and Mallory explore the house and find a white cat in the attic. Even after the cat is found Mallory continues to hear meowing from the attic. Another exploration reveals letters by a man who had his own white cat many years ago and was heartbroken to lose him. A man calls saying the cat is his and named Rasputin, which is an odd name for a cat, but also hilarious for anyone who knows the fate of the real Rasputin who did not go easily in late 1916. The man is identical to the man in the old picture found with the letters which adds to the mystery which never really gets solved. In the subplot Mallory's dad's uncle Joe is coming to stay with him which at first causes excitement until they realize he's a cranky old man. As someone who has worked in nursing homes for years I immediately saw what was happening, but I thought the book did a good job describing how kids react to people with Alzheimer's. It's a very confusing disease for even adults to understand. One moment your mom is cheerful and loving, the next she's swearing and throwing things. In this case Joe doesn't get violent, just cranky, which given he was thrown into a house with eight kids is understandable. But in the end they all come to understand and get along with Joe and the hot sauce part at the end cracked me up. A cute little mystery not too heavy or dark, just some fun, Karen didn't get her way in one chapter so that's always a good time and Dawn as a ghostbuster was pretty funny, too bad she became so horrible in the California Diaries series. But that's for another time.