LVL Lib: Have You Seen My Cat Gr1 Coll00

I love Eric Carle's books and so do my grandsons. I bought this one for my 3 year old grandson. From the moment we started, he was captiviated by the brilliant illustrations and the pull out tabs. He wanted to read it over and over again. By the time I saw him two weeks later, he had the book memorized and was delighted that he could tell me, quite dramaticallly, that it was not his cat. The pull out tabs are a great idea to get the children to participate.

We are big Eric Carle fans in my house, my son is 2 and loves all of his books, except this one. We enjoy cats, but this book was just plain BORING. In the beginning (before reading starts) it identifies all the different types of cats, but throughout the book it doesn't identify them again or their home/habitit. It shows different cultures for the various cats, but doesn't even say one word about them, just says "That's not my cat" for the ENTIRE book. Disappointed that I bought this book.

I noticed Amazon has the reading level of this book geared towards children 4 to 8 years old. I really think this book is intended for six months to 18 months. There are very few words in the book and the ones the book has are repeated constantly. My 18 month old granddaughter loved the repetitiveness of the book. The pictures are such that you can have a discussion or make up some sort of side story for your child. As usual Eric Carle doesn't disappoint.

This book has a lot of depth, but you must see past the simple text. One great thing about the simple text is that emergent readers can read this book with ease! If they can't get it right on the first page, they are sure to get it right on the second page. The repetition is actually very beneficial and encouraging to a new reader.

Regarding depth, the pictures tell most of the story. Great discussions while reading will involve the different members of the cat family and also the country or area of the world that the boy is now visiting. These discussions can develop into both science and social studies lessons.

Don't judge a book by its number of words! This is a great choice for young families!

I love Eric Carl and this is a great edition for the cat lover.

Author of "Hobo Finds A Home"