Title: Alone in the Night
Author: Holly Webb
Illustrator: Sophy Williams
Grade Level Equivalent: 2.6
Lexile Measure: 790L
Genre: Children's Literature
Subgenre: Realistic Fiction
Theme: The responsibility involved in taking care of a pet.
Primary and Secondary Characters: Jasmine, Star, Jasmine's parents, Andy, Helen
Awards: N/A
Date of Publication: 2009
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
ISBN: 0545325765
Alone in the Night is a story about a little girl, Jasmine, who befriends the neighbors’ cat, Star. Jasmine’s parents won’t let her have a cat of her own even though she desperately wants one. Their friendship begins by Star climbing through a hole in the fence to play with Jasmine after school each day. By the time Christmas is approaching, Star’s owners, Andy and Helen, tell Jasmine that they are going out of town for three weeks and they would like her to watch over Star while they are gone. Jasmine’s parents agree and Star comes over to stay with them while her owners are on vacation. At first, Jasmine’s parents are not thrilled about the prospect of having a cat in the house but eventually, Star wins them over. After several days, Star begins to act differently. She starts sleeping all day, she is cranky and just wants to be left alone, and she’s starting to get a little pudgy. Jasmine became worried about the cat and started hovering over her trying to figure out what was wrong. Eventually, Star decided she had to get out and find a quiet place to rest with no people. So, she climbed under the fence and through the cat flap at her owners’ house and nestled into a small linen closet. The next day, after frantically searching for Star, Jasmine finds her curled up in the linen closet—with two baby kittens at her side. Excited, Jasmine ran back to tell her mother. When Andy and Helen returned home, they were surprised to see that they were now the owners of three kittens. As a thank you for taking such good care of Star, Helen gives Jasmine one of the kittens to keep for her very own.
This is a cute book aimed at younger readers. It is told from the standpoint of Jasmine, a young girl in love with a cute little kitten. I would definitely have this book in my classroom, probably more for independent reading than for any type of assignment. It would be a good book to have that would mainly appeal to young girls and capture their attention.
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