Socks is the name of the newest character to be created by Beverly Cleary. He is a young tabby cat with four white paws and he lives happily with a young married couple Marilyn and Bill Bricker. The center of the Bricker household Socks rules it affectionately but firmly.Into this loving home however comes another pet. This creature has a small wrinkled furless face and Mr. and Mrs. Bricker spend an inordinate amount of time trying to burp it. Its arrival fills Socks with jealousy and a terrible anxiety. How the rivalry between Socks and Charles William the Bricker baby turns into an alliance makes a domestic drama both touching and funny. Although her story is about a cat and faithful to his point of view in every detail Mrs. Cleary demonstrates with it the emotional upheaval experienced by a child who must learn to share his parents. As young readers come to understand Socks and his problems they will gain a new understanding of themselves. But most of all they will laugh.
