Faith and the Rocket Cat (Scholastic Signature) [Library Binding]

Patrick Jennings (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1999 | ISBN-10: 0613229835 | ISBN-13: 978-0613229838

Faith's electric dog, Edison, sweeps through an adventure filled with truths: cats have at least nine lives, poetry speaks volumes, coyotes can be big-hearted, and love is stronger than anything. Edison narrates the story in English, Spanish, Chinese, "Miauw", and "Bow-Wow".

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-Edison the "electric" dog (a play on the Spanish term for mixed breed) narrates this story about his owner Faith's family's move from Mexico to San Francisco. In an attempt to impress others, both the girl and her pet lure unsuspecting and unbelieving passengers into their rocket, the Peahen, which runs on pig fat and jalape?os. Unbeknownst to the flight crew, Edison's guest, a snooty whippet he met on the plane from Mexico, eats most of the fuel pre-takeoff, causing the craft to crash land in Death Valley. Luckily, it does so near the Lulu, an older vehicle that mysteriously disappeared, apparently commandeered by Faith's deceased father's cat after the man passed away. In the old rocket, there is enough fuel (olives and garlic) to get everyone back to San Francisco, but only after fighting off a pack of coyotes. The abrupt ending gives the impression that the author himself is anxious to get the meagerly plotted story over with. Too many things in the story rely on or refer to Faith and the Electric Dogs (Scholastic, 1996) for this one to stand alone, and the magical elements are not convincing here. Edison's narrative tone tends to be just a little too knowing to appeal to the intended audience. Also, he constantly uses terms in Spanish, Bowwow, and a few other languages that are annoyingly defined in the margins. This offering will only be worthwhile for serious fans of the first book.
Carrie Schadle, New York Public Library
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 4^-6. In this sequel to the rollicking Faith and the Electric Dog (1996), Faith and her dog, Eddie, pack up their rocket, the Peahen, and move with the family from Mexico City to San Francisco. Jennings does a fine job of recapping the first book without boring readers and reintroducing Eddie, the electric dog (a Mexican expression meaning mutt), with his talent for reading and writing in several languages. By moving the action to California, Jennings gives himself an opportunity to skewer modern American educational techniques ("I like the way you're using your words") and also to celebrate the multiple languages and ethnic groups. Like the earlier book, this one is smaller than usual and square in shape, with the translated foreign words--this time not only from "Bowwow," Spanish, and "Arf" but also from French, Chinese, Italian, and "Mew" --appearing in the margins. Of course, Faith and Eddie take a rocket trip, accompanied by purebred whippet Daphne, Faith's disapproving mother, and school enemy Alex, this time landing in the desert with a sly coyote. An abundance of characters makes the story a little hard to follow, but Eddie's dry, funny narration and Faith's warm heart make it worth the effort. Susan Dove Lempke --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Library Binding
• Publisher: Econo-Clad Books (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613229835
• ISBN-13: 978-0613229838
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,685,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

As a kid Patrick Jennings was afraid of African black mambas and tigers. He grew up in Northwestern Indiana.

He got his first pair of glasses when he was eight, and always wished he had a nickname like his friend, Mike. Mike was called "Tiger" by everyone, even the teachers. Wow.

Patrick Jennings may be called "Tiger," if you wish, or "Tigersnack." Both names are hidden inside his name. (As is "Rat" and "Ratpick," but he's not as fond of those and discourages their use. "Jetpack" is fine.)

Before he became a professional writer, in 1995, Tigersnack was a paperboy, a busboy, a fry cook, a hoddy, a record store clerk, a courier, a teacher, and a librarian. He has since published sixteen books for young readers. Can you find them somewhere on this site?

Jetpack's books have featured such creatures as electric dogs, rocket cats, grebes, coots, kangaroo rats, werewolves, scorpions, horses grown from seed, teenagers, gopher snakes, guinea dogs, and a lucky (or perhaps unlucky) sixth grader. Stinking Carp (he doesn't like this one) is currently working on books about a bat, a rat, alien dognappers, an owl in a suit, and, naturally, a tiger.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Faith and the Rocket Cat, January 1, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Faith and the Rocket Cat (Hardcover)

This book is from an electric dog's point of view; electric meaning a dog that comes from many breeds, basically a mutt, named Edison. Now Edison is no ordinary dog, he is a literate, which means that he can read, write, and understand what humans say to him. In this book Edison is writing a story about his adventures with his master Faith. In the beginning of the book Edison, Faith, Faith's mom and step-dad are moving from El Perro Corriente, Mexico to San Francisco, California. On their plane ride there Edison meets a full breed dog named Daphne and he falls in (puppy) love with her, but he feels as if his feelings aren't being returned. Edison is in luck though because it turns out that his new house is practically neighbors with Daphne's. There is one more thing that is out of the ordinary about Edison (besides the fact that he's bilingual), he and his master built a rocket ship that actually worked, but most people don't believe her. For example, when Faith started school again in San Francisco and she told her class about the rocket nobody believed her. Especially this boy named Alex, so Faith invited him over one day to experience a flight first-hand. Edison also wanted to invite someone (Daphne), but every time he even came close to her, her master told him to go away or she would even call the dog pound. So Edison convinced Faith to act as if she was her mother and invite Daphne and her master over for coffee. On the day of the little get-together something really bad happened. The rocket took off! With Faith, Edison, Daphne, Alex, and Faith's mother inside. And to add to the matter Daphne ate all of the fuel, which was pig-fat and jalapenos. So the Rocket died out in the air, but luckily they landed safely because they had parachutes. They all landed in Death Valley, but they didn't land together they were separated in the wind. Will they find each other in the desert, Will they Daphne ever become interested in Edison, or Will they even make it out alive? Find out by reading the book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Cool Book & But not as good as the first., March 11, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Faith and the Rocket Cat (Scholastic Signature) (Paperback)

I really liked the first book, Faith and the Electric Dogs better. The second book seemed to go on too long and was kind of predoictable. It was a fun book to read, but the first was the best. IF you haven't read the first, buy that one. But don't just take my work for it.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Read, June 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Faith and the Rocket Cat (Scholastic Signature) (Paperback)

Very funny. Well-written This was a great book.