PICTURE BOOK REVIEW: 10 Cats by Emily Gravett & 10 Dogs by Emily Gravett
I thoroughly enjoyed reading both of these cleverly designed concept books. I look forward to reading them with my kindergarten students to see if they find them as amusing as I do.
REVIEW
Using amusing illustrations of 10 mischievous kittens playing with cans of red, yellow, and blue paint. The story begins with 1 white cat (the mother) laying down to take a nap. Soon the kittens are playing with the cans of paint, which, naturally, come open. As the brief text describes the number of kittens such as "4 cats with patches", the illustrations show the mischief they get into while mother cat snoozes happily. Once the tubs of paint tip over, the mess the kittens make gets bigger and bigger until even sleeping mama can't avoid being involved. The humor combines simply but delightfully with the counting and mixing of colors to present not only a counting and color book but an amusing tale of mischief and mayhem. Thankfully, the mother cat got in a good nap because once she wakes up, she'll need all the energy she can muster to deal with the mess. A book that young listeners/readers are bound to enjoy reading again and again, just to spot all the details of the 10 kittens. In addition to the original counting activity, there are numerous ways to practice counting while reading aloud with a child. Perfect for sharing one-on-one or in a group.
Book cover provided by publisher through Goodreads.com & sample illustrations provided by publisher.
REVIEW
Beginning with 10 dogs and 10 sausages (even on the opening end papers), Gravett shares with readers the chaos that ensues as the dogs get their teeth on the sausages. A variety of different scenarios occur as the dogs slowly wreak havoc on the kitchen table, chairs, and tablecloth. Not only is this a counting book, but there is also some basic math introduced as well such as "2 dogs each with half of them, 8 dogs wanting some" easily becomes the question: how many do each of the two dogs have? The detailed pencil and watercolor illustrations provide all kinds of details that make studying the illustrations just as fun as reading the story. Children are likely to enjoy looking to see which dogs have the sausages at any given time. The clever addition of a moment of kindness between the dogs added a nice ending to all the mayhem. Although I suspect the homeowner won't be pleased when he/she/they arrives home. An engaging, amusing concept book that even older children will have to laugh at when they read it.
SAMPLE ILLUSTRATIONS
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