Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Books With Whiskers

Z has done it again. He has randomly chosen three books from the library that are all on the same theme. This week it's "cats".

The stars of Beware of Tigers by Dave Horowitz are two little birds, Chirp and Birp. They are sitting happily in the city when one day another bird shows up and tells them a tiger is coming to town. He warns them not to trust the tiger when he shows his teeth but they don't listen. They hang out, sing and dance with the tiger and, lo and behold, the tiger one day smiles and then opens his mouth wide -- to try and eat them! They escape but have learned a good lesson about who you can trust. This book is written in verse and has nice bright illustrations. It appears to be out of print so your best bet is to find it used or at the library.

The latest book in the "If You Give ..." series by Laura Numeroff is If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. Z wanted to get this earlier from the library when he was reading it in class but it wasn't available in the library until now. This one is delightfully far-fetched and amusing. From a cat wanting sprinkles on a cupcake, this book quickly progresses to the beach, the gym, karate class, the lake and more! Felicia Bond's illustrations are detailed and exciting. There are so many directions that these narratives can take that they could have a really long and happy franchise with these books. This one is fun because the cat is never too naughty except for a little bit of sprinkles and sand on the floor.

Cat & Mouse by Ian Schoenherr is a light-hearted book where a cat chases a mouse and while the mouse escapes, he teaches the proper way to treat a cat. If you want to take a stab at teaching your youngster about irony, this would be a great book for it! Thankfully, in the end, the cat and mouse actually become friends. It also incorporates some nursery rhymes like Hickory, Dickory, Dock and Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo which will please most kids. The illustrations are a bit intense in some parts so I would just take a look through this one before handing it over to your little one.

Catching a tiger by the toe,
K and Z


Buy Beware of Tigers, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and Cat & Mouse on Amazon or find them at your local library.

3 comments:

  1. I'm having such a childhood flashback with the "If you give..." series. I think the one I had was "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

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  2. My son just came home from school and asked me to get him "If YOU Give A Cat A Cupcake" because one of his friends brought it to school and my son fell in love with it (he says there is something about karate and a museum and "it is really funny, Mommy.") Naturally, I ordered it from Amazon right away -- I NEVER turn down his request for a book!!!!!

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  3. hey, about that Horowitz's book (Beware of tigers)... how does it end? What happens to the tiger? I must know it, before i eventually buy it.

    thanks

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