Review by Booklist Review
This book for beginning readers starts in a promising way, with short words, short sentences, and plenty of repetition. There was a cat. / It was a small cat. / It was a striped cat. / It was a lost cat. Everyone who sees it says, Scat, cat! And the cat moves on, walking through town and encountering the dog, the pigeon, the barber, the baker, the school-bus driver, and so on (and on). After nightfall, the cat meets several nocturnal animals before curling up on a porch and falling asleep. In the morning, a boy opens the door and welcomes his cat home with a dish of food. The brief encounters enable readers to concentrate on decoding without having to remember plot twists, and the final scene is quiet but satisfying. Meisel's simple, ink-and-watercolor illustrations have their own scruffy charm, particularly for animal lovers. A pleasant title from the My First (shared reading) level of the I Can Read series.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Scat, Cat! tells the story of a lost striped cat trying to find its way home. In Mia, a cat that is an aspiring dancer takes her older sister's tutu, by mistake, to her first dance class. Both books have short, simple sentences and easy plotlines, good devices for beginning readers. The first title is a bit more successful in this regard as it employs more word and phrase repetition. Large, colorful illustrations and an easy-to-read typeface make both books visually appealing. Pictures in Mia are slightly more whimsical, and the cover illustration of a happy kitten twirling in a pink tutu is sure to grab young girls' attention.-Kelly Roth, Bartow County Public Library, Cartersville, GA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
The protagonist is told: "Scat, cat!" by all the other animals he encounters; he walks and walks until he comes to a house, where he curls up on the porch and goes to sleep. In a satisfying twist, it turns out that he has returned home. Simple vocabulary and lots of repetition combine with warm, expressive illustrations to tell an engaging story. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
