Cats, More Cats, Bigger Cats, and a Lesson in Being Different

Emma Lazell's Big Cat is a fun read aloud picture book for both cat lovers and people who love to visit the zoo. She writes with humor about a family who has a houseful of cats and the story also has a life lesson on accepting differences.

Grandma is searching for her glasses in the garden. Her little granddaughter comes across a cat and Grandma calls the roll to see which one of her cats is out in the garden. She has a houseful of cats and all answer to their name when she checks to see which one might be missing and was found in the garden. This cat that was found in the garden is very different and HUGE! Grandma knows that they cannot keep this cat and decides to visit the neighbors to see if this huge cat might belong to one of them. None of the neighbors were fond of cats and they absolutely did not like all of Grandma's cats because of some of the behaviors. They felt that Grandma's cats were nothing but trouble with the damage they caused to flower beds and inside the garden sheds. Nobody claimed this huge cat. Grandma was still looking for her glasses and the huge cat became a part of her home. Of course, it had to be kept apart from the others. But this cat was a lot of fun! One day a neighbor knocked on the door and Grandma's glasses had been found. What a surprise! Young readers will have fun with the surprise ending.

Big Cat offers another life lesson in creating families and meeting new friends. The large and colorful illustrations help tell the story. Young readers will find an opportunity to practice dramatic reading skills with several large print words in the text to emphasize details. The surprise ending offers an opportunity to begin to explore other animals.

Big Cat was published by Pavilion Books Company Limited and is recommended for ages 3-6. It has an ISBN of 978-1-84365-429-2.

Picture books were always my favorite tools to use in a variety of lessons. Picture books can be used to teach reading skills, math, and social skills. Big Cat offers the opportunity for teachers to prepare lessons in all of these aspects of the early childhood curriculum. Lessons to add to the interest in reading a special book are always a fun way to get young children to read.

*Read Big Cat in a group story time session. Call attention to the fact that the little girl finds a cat. Take a class poll of children who might have found a stray kitty in their neighborhood. Did they keep the cat?

*Call attention to the size of the cat. How is this cat different from all the other cats? Create a math lesson to explore the variety of sizes that are all around us. Have a collection of objects ranging from small to large sizes. Toys from the toy box can be used to explore sizes. Line up students from short to tall.

*Create a math graph with ordering objects from small to large. You might find pictures of cats in pet magazines to cut and paste onto the graph to arrange the cats from small to large.

*Take a class poll of children who have introduced a new pet into their family. Grandma had to keep the big cat separate from the other cats. How did the children introduce a new pet into their family?

*Call attention to the surprise ending. The last page has an added surprise to create a lesson about zoo animals. Engage children in a creative writing lesson to write about another zoo animal that might accidentally become a pet. Children are encouraged to use their imagination to create a scenario in which they find a stray zoo animal to keep for a pet.

Use the poll at the end of my review to play a naming game with children.