There is nothing harder than trying to coax a reluctant reader to sit down and face the enemy: a book. Thank goodness for wacky authors like the genius Andy Griffiths, Australian chap, who understands what doesn't work for these bookhaters and has written books that DO work for them.
In fact they bring a smile...yes a smile..to these young faces and suddenly books are a bit more welcome in their world.
This brings us to a new friend in the beginning reader world... a book of cartoon action and some well timed violence. Sound like your reader? Written in the simplest words most of which are members of the esteemed "at" family this book will draw your child to the page with its energy and potential threat. Just as the superheroes of our children's imaginations conquer all with their imposing strength and unlimited wisdom, so does our pursued rat turn the tables on the cat with his baseball bat.
It's that simple. It's that engaging. It has plenty of repetition and a huge dose of violent retribution which any reluctant reader will enjoy immensely.
For every Jokester/Thrillseeking/Party Animal and his cohort in crime, WildThing/Mirette/Annie Oakley, here is a book of action...their beloved action...done with humor and intensity.
32 pages Ages 4-8 Level 1 9781250027740
Highly recommended by : Barb
*****
Reluctant beginning reader? Know a young'un who reallllly doesn't like to read? Here you go! The insanely zany Andy Griffiths has two beginning readers under his belt.What happens when a cat sits on a mat? He sees a rat. What happens when a cat sees a rat? What do you think?Using a few words from the "at" word family plus an occasional extra, the cat goes chasing after that rat and learns a little something about when the tables are turned and it's the rat with the bat.
Ages 4-7 978-1250027740 32 pages
Recommended by: Barb
****
"The rat did not like being chased by the cat,
and after three laps around the mat
the rat said, 'That's enough of that!'
And it went and got...
a baseball bat."
THE CAT, THE RAT, AND THE BASEBALL BAT was originally published as "The Cat, the Mat, the Rat, and the Baseball Bat, the lead-off story in Griffiths' and Denton's 2006 collection THE CAT ON THE MAT IS FLAT. Now it has been published as a stand-alone beginning reader.
When it comes to us guys who are on the edge of becoming readers, there is nothing that motivates us better than a hysterically funny story that we can learn to read to ourselves and share with all of our guy friends.
In fact, this would be a great one to act out (with a FOAM bat, of course), as we take turns reading the story.
"The rat chased the cat with the baseball bat
around and around and around the mat until...
KERSPLAT!"
When it comes to physical, slapstick humor like this, I am so into it. Reading this one caused me to pull out my beloved copy of COWBOY AND OCTOPUS and read the story "Help, " which has similar Three Stooges-like physical humor.
Now, not everyone will adore this. I just looked on Goodreads and saw where somebody gave THE CAT, THE RAT, AND THE BASEBALL BAT only two stars out of five, stating, "Anthropomorphic animals fight, behave poorly."
I actually think that is a wonderful description for this. But I don't give it two stars. I give it a ten out of five. And now I'm off to the dollar store to look for foam baseball bats.
Reluctant beginning reader? Know a young'un who reallllly doesn't like to read? Here you go! The insanely zany Andy Griffiths has two beginning readers under his belt.What happens when a cat sits on a mat? He sees a rat. What happens when a cat sees a rat? What do you think?Using a few words from the "at" word family plus an occasional extra, the cat goes chasing after that rat and learns a little something about when the tables are turned and it's the rat with the bat.
Ages 4-7 978-1250027740 32 pages
Recommended by: Barb
