Product Description

Socks is one happy cat....

He lives with a nice young couple called Brickers who play with him, pet him, feed him treats, and always have a warm lap for him to sit in. Then a new baby joins the family Suddenly, the Brickers are sharing their laps and love with Charles William, and Socks is getting into trouble. He runs from a phantom dog, wrestles with Nana's best wig, and fights Old Taylor the tomcat for his territory. But as Charles William grows, Socks discovers that he has a new friend and a new way to be a part of the family.

A purr-fectly hilarious portrait of life with a baby from a cat's point of view.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42373 in Books
• Published on: 1990-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780380709267
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4-After a rough start, and a brief internment in a mail box, Socks the cat has landed on his feet. He belongs to the Brickers-a young couple who dote on him. Then a baby arrives in the household and Socks discovers that the people he'd trained so well no longer consider him the center of their universe. This is devastating, but eventually he finds a new place that everyone can be happy with. This is an hilarious book by Beverly Cleary (Morrow, 1973), told from the cat's point of view, and Neil Patrick Harris does a slam-bang job of presenting it. He provides voices for each character but, more importantly, he reads the story with humor and expression, bringing it to life. Listeners feel a kinship with Socks and root for his success, even while acknowledging his foibles. Both children and adults with roar with laughter at Sock's antics and cringe at his misdeeds. This is a great production that deserves to be enjoyed by a wide audience.
Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Beverly Cleary was born in McMinnville, Oregon, and, until she was old enough to attend school, lived on a farm in Yamhill, a town so small it had no library. Her mother arranged with the State Library to have books sent to Yamhill and acted as librarian in a lodge room upstairs over a bank. There Mrs. Cleary learned to love books. When the family moved to Portland, where Mrs. Cleary attended grammar school and high school, she soon found herself in the low reading circle, an experience that has given her sympathy for the problems of struggling readers. By the third grade she had conquered reading and spent much of her childhood either with books or on her way to and from the public library. Before long her school librarian was suggesting that she should write for boys and girls when she grew up. The idea appealed to her, and she decided that someday she would write the books she longed to read but was unable to find on the library shelves, funny stories about her neighborhood and the sort of children she knew.

After graduation from junior college in Ontario, California, and the University of California at Berkeley, Mrs. Cleary entered the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington, Seattle. There she specialized in library work with children. She was Children's Librarian in Yakima, Washington, until she married Clarence Cleary and moved to California. The Clearys are the parents of twins, now grown. Mrs. Cleary's hobbies are travel and needlework.

Mrs. Cleary's books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the 1984 John Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw, for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children in 1983. Her Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 were named 1978 and 1982 Newbery Honor Books, respectively. Among Mrs. Cleary's other awards are the American Library Association's 1975 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Catholic Library Association's 1980 Regina Medal, and the University of Southern Mississippi's 1982 Silver Medallion, all presented in recognition of her lasting contribution to children's literature. In addition, Mrs. Cleary was the 1984 United States author nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, a prestigious international award. Equally important are the more than 35 statewide awards Mrs. Cleary's books have received based on the direct votes of her young readers. The Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden for Children featuring bronze statues of Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins, and Ribsy, was recently opened in Portland, Oregon.

This witty and warm author is truly an international favorite. Mrs. Cleary's books appear in over twenty countries in fourteen languages and her characters, including Henry Huggins, Ellen Tebbits, Otis Spofford, and Beezus and Ramona Quimby, as well as Ribsy, Socks, and Ralph S. Mouse, have delighted children for generations. There have been Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish television programs based on the Henry Huggins series. PBS-TV aired a ten-part series based on the Ramona stories. One-hour adaptations of the three Ralph S. Mouse books have been shown on ABC-TV. All of Mrs. Cleary's adaptations still can be seen on cable television, and the Ramona adaptations are available in video stores.

From AudioFile
Socks, the once darling kitten of newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Bricker, has been displaced by an unnerving rival: newborn Charles William. Neil Patrick Harris (whose voice may be familiar from his starring role in "Doogie Howser, M.D.") skillfully enlists our sympathy for Socks, whose fortunes steadily worsen as Mrs. Bricker's lap and attention span shrink. With boyish humor, Harris invites listeners to see life from Socks's vantage point. Younger listeners (who may themselves feel misunderstood by the big people in their lives, especially after the arrival of a new sibling) will especially appreciate this perspective. Parents listening along will enjoy Cleary's sharp and humorous insights into family life. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Find the old edition of this book!
Socks is a great book, but it's terrible that the publisher threw out the great illustrations by Beatrice Darwin in favor of some Saturday-morning-cartoon "illustrations" that turn Socks into an anthropomorphic "character," instead of a cat.

Darwin's great pictures capture the personality of Socks in a way that stuck with me for 25 years. Any cat-lover should look into finding an older copy of this wonderful book.

Socks
This book is about a gray kitten with white paws named Socks. Socks is bought by a couple living in a small house.The couple decided to have a baby. The baby was receiving all of the attention Socks normally received. Socks decided to leave the house. Running away from home caused Socks to get in a fight with another cat in the neighborhood. Socks returned home needing attention for his injuries. The couple saw the cuts and sores on Socks. Socks received lots of loving care and a nice comfortable bed to sleep in. There is a happy ending to the story. You'll need to read the book to find out the ending. I recommed this book for readers who love animals. I enjoy reading about any kind of animal. Animals add more excitement and comedy to a story.

Socks By Bevely Cleary
Socks is a cat who has a great family but than his family has a baby . So its all about how the cat acts and playes with the baby.Socks gets jealous of the new baby,but at the end you see how Socks acts with the baby as they get older.I thought this was one of Bevely Cleary's best books.This book is great for middle-school aged kids.This book made me laugh a lot and it inspired me to read more Bevely Cleary books.