For the Love of Autumm by Patricia Polacco

For the Love of Autumm is a sweet story about a teacher named Miss Parks. She has just moved to Washington to start a new teaching job with her cat Autumm. She is not yet married, and explains to her students that she knows the one of her is out there and she will know when she meets him. Autumm and Miss Parks eat popcorn together and sit on the couch by the fireplace. One stormy night Autumm goes missing. Miss Parks searches for her everywhere but never finds her. She returns one day with a gash on her tail and covered in blood. As Miss Parks goes to help her she runs away. Miss Parks was very upset and worried. All her students came to her house to help her search for Autumm, but they were not successful. Weeks went by and Autumm never returned. Then one day, when Miss Parks had given up hope, Autumm returns! Miss Parks is so happy, but Autumm seems to keep running off for a days at a time and then returning. One day she returns with a collar on and a phone number. Miss Parks calls the number and finds out that a man had found her and took her in as his own cat. She was upset about this, but then invited him over to meet him since he took care of Autumm when she was injured. When she saw him at the door she knew he was one. They were married a year later and they lived together, a long with their cat Autumm.

I really liked this story. I was not sure what it was going to be about when I first started reading it. I was not expecting her to meet a man at the end. That was a nice twist. It was nice how their mutual love for Autumm is what brought them together. I could see students in 2nd-4th grade enjoying this story. It is a longer book and deals with some more mature topics. I think it could make a nice addition to a classroom library. The illustrations in it, also done by Patricia, are beautifully done. They are colorful and realistic. This book was a little different then the other books I have read by Patricia. The themes of love and friendship are still ever present, but I liked that this story was different. This book is very cute I think it would be a fun book for my classroom library.