Serendipity & Me by Judith L. Roth (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Serendipity & Me by Judith L. Roth Jeannette Hulick Roth, Judith L. Serendipity & Me. Viking, 2013. 312p. ISBN 978-0-670-01440-8$16.99 R Gr. 5–8. Sixth-grader Sara can’t seem to break through to her dad, who is still desperately [End Page 350] grieving the loss of Sara’s mother, who died in a car accident three years ago. The surprise arrival of a white kitten on their doorstep seems serendipitous (prompting Sara to name her Serendipity), and Sara begins a campaign to convince her father—vehement in his protestations against cat ownership—to let Serendipity stay. Her dad’s reaction to Serendipity and a class assignment about family photos impel Sara to dig deeper in her family’s past, and she is surprised to learn that her creative, poetic mom was also a cat lover, and that her mom was actually on her way to pick up a kitten for Sara when she died. Anyone lured in by the adorable kitten on the book’s cover will not be disappointed by the happy ending of this thoughtful free-verse novel. Although Sara’s voice is sometimes mature for a sixth-grader, her observations about the cat (“I can pour her/ like pudding/ into any shape of container./ She spreads out soft like Jell-O./ She fills up any mold”) and about her family’s loss are evocative and frequently poignant. The lyrical text moves quickly, and the various plot threads (Sara’s budding crush on a classmate, the kitten, the family’s grief) are deftly handled. Sarah’s story will appeal both to cat lovers and to kids with their own sad family backstories. Copyright © 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois