The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat (I Can Read Book 1)

I borrowed this book from the library. It looked cute with the big fat cat on the front and the words rhyme. However, when I sat down with my grandson to read it, I was very disappointed. With words like hate and stupid in it, it is not appropriate for children of any age. How can we expect our children/grandchildren to grow up to be loving, caring persons if we fill their heads with words like these?

This was the first Karlin book I had read, and I will look the others over more carefully before I bring them home. Often when I find a book at the library I like, I purchase a copy later. I obviously won't being do so in this case.

If you are looking for a book in order to practice '-at' words, this is the one. The author went a bit berserk trying to fit them into a story, which is perhaps why the plot is a bit awkward. But in any case, there are lots of -at's including cat, bat, hat, vat, sat, mat, rat, fat, brat, that, flat, pat, and tat. (And I wouldn't be surprised if I have missed one or two others. )

Despite all these simple words the book has garnered an Accelerated Reading designation of 1.9. This means that the book is really geared for children who are essentially 2nd Graders. And indeed, harder words include: broom, crazy, witch, Wilma, stares, won't, closer, and stupid.

This last word along with the mom-despised 'hate' are two of the reasons I can't get all excited about this book despite the fact that my five year old son seems to think it's okay.

Other reasons include some just awkward elements such as the fact that the cat sleeps in a vat. I don't get that. And somehow after all the 'ats' it is annoying to get some rhymes like fish-and-dish, and broom-and-room.

Three Stars ::: This is an average sort of book. The artwork is unexceptional, and the story is just plain silly, but sometimes that's just the sort of thing that children like. Personally, my mom-eyes twitch every time we run across the words, brat, hate, and stupid, so this one's going back to the library and we won't be buying a copy for home.

Pam T~

It's a great book for the beginning reader. Cute story. As for the words "hates", "stupid", and "brat", I used white-out and put in my own words. I'm surprised the publisher let those words into a beginning reader book. I'm glad to see a longer (32 pages) level 1 book.

My son, who has just turned 4, has just started to learn to read. After completing his first book at school, we went and purhcased this book as it had many of the simple short words that he is learning. Given the level of the book, it never occured to me to review it first and imagine my surprise when I read "The rat hates the cat" and "You think I am stupid" and "My dear little brat". My 4 year old is aware of words like "hate" and "stupid" but he also knows that those are not kind words and they don't have a place in our house. I am returning the book and now question Harper Collin's ability to review books and give their opinion.

I agree with a previous reviewer in that the book is very rude and does not teach good behavior. I want my son to learn to read, but not at the expense of his manners!

I strongly encourage those considering this book to re-consider. There's enough rudeness and harsh words in this world without having to introduce them in a small child's book.

[...]

Good things:
* Longer and slightly more complex story than most reading books
* Humorous plot with twists (I love how the rat is going to get a bat to get the cat off the mat and it turns out to be a flying bat as opposed to a baseball bat.)
* good rhyming
* my 4 year olds are just starting to grasp reading and this book and its many *at words was just about at their level and appealing enough that they were making an effort

Negative:
* I wish the characters were not so rude (I do think kids can distinguish between appropriate behavior and behavior that needs correcting). Giving them only model behavior is unrealistic and sometimes boring. However, in this book it will be up to you to reinforce any lessons about rudeness.
* I prefer not to have books about witches.

For me the positives outweighed the negatives enough to seriously consider buying it.