In the book Cages, by Peg Kehret, Kit, the main character, has had many things happen to her. She is a fourteen year old girl, with many problems occurring in her life. She is very unhappy that she didn’t get the part that she wanted or any part at all. After all that, she went home to find that her stepfather, Wayne, was in a very bad mood. He was very mean to Kit, and he yelled at her. She had to get away from everything, so she rode the bus to the mall. When she arrived there, she saw the girl who got the part she wanted in the school play, in the jewelry store. Her dad was buying Marcia Homer, the one who got the part, a congratulations gift.  When Kit saw a very pretty bracelet on the counter, all her anger had been focused on the bracelet, and how much she wanted it. So, when she saw that no one was looking, she decided that she would take it. Once she took the bracelet, she told Marcia she had to go, and got out of the store. When she was walking to get to the bus, a woman stopped her. She told her that she was with the store security, and held out her badge. She was found guilty in a juvenile court committee and was sentenced to work for the animal shelter for 20 hours. She fell in love with working with the dogs, because she felt the way that the dogs were, confined. She finished her work, but one more problem came up. In one of her classes, they had to write a speech about a topic they chose out of a hat. Unfortunately for Kit, she got shoplifting, and she had to tell her secret to everyone. She was very unhappy that she had to tell everyone, but she knew she did the right thing. As one can see, she has had to face many problems.

I thought that this book was a great book. Kit was a great main character, and when she had many problems she had to overcome she took her challenges seriously and overcame them. It was not confusing in any way and was not challenging to read at all. I would not want to change anything about this book, but if I had to, I would change how mean her stepfather was to her. I know that he made her very mad at times, and that made her very angry. That was partly why she stole that bracelet, but I don’t think it is right for a parent to treat their kid like he treated her. That was the only part I didn’t like, otherwise it was a great book. It was a very fun, exciting book to read.

I could relate to Kit in many ways. I have felt caged in and felt like I was going to burst if I didn’t get out quickly. I love dogs, so I loved it when Kit was at the animal shelter. She fell in love with one of the dogs, but they put it to sleep, and that has happened to me also. Kit had so many different feelings in the book that I could relate to.

It was a great book and I would definitely recommend it to other people. I would not say that it is for children, but for preteens to teens. Dog lovers would love the book, like I do. To like this book, though, you have to like many feelings and emotions; exciting; interesting novels. It was a heart-stopping, great book that I could not put down, once I started reading it. I loved this book, and it was an awesome book!