David LaRochelle

author & illustrator

See the Cat: Three Stories about a Dog

by David LaRochelle
illus­trat­ed by Mike Wohnout­ka
Can­dlewick Press, 2020
Ages: Preschool to Grade 3
ISBN 978–1536204278

Buy the Book 

bookshop.org
(local book­sellers)

barnes & noble

ama­zon

kobo.com

nook book

ama­zon kindle

barnes & noble

Max is a dog … but why does the book keep insist­ing that the read­er should “see the cat?” Over the course of these three short sto­ries, Max and the book have very dif­fer­ent ideas about the sto­ries they wish to tell. For­tu­nate­ly they’re able to reach a hap­py con­clu­sion that sat­is­fies them both … and will make young read­ers giggle.

Buy the Book 

bookshop.org
(local book­sellers)

barnes & noble

ama­zon

kobo.com

nook book

ama­zon kindle

barnes & noble

Resources

See the free down­load­able activ­i­ty and exten­sion sheets for this fun­ny begin­ning read­er book!

You can lis­ten to me talk about See the Cat, and hear me read part of the first sto­ry at TeachingBooks.net.

See the trail­er for See the Cat: Three Sto­ries about a Dog:

Awards and Recognition

ALSC Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
ALA Notable Chil­dren’s Books
Bank Street Col­lege of Edu­ca­tion’s Best Chil­dren’s Books
Bul­letin of the Cen­ter for Chil­dren’s Books Gryphon Award
CCBC Choices
Michi­gan’s Great Lakes Great Books Award
Star of the North Pic­ture Book Award nominee
Sun­shine State Young Read­ers Award Jr nominee
Ten­nessee Vol­un­teer Award nominee
Capi­tol Choic­es Note­wor­thy Books for Chil­dren and Teens
Chica­go Pub­lic Library Best of the Best Books
Cybils Award, Easy Readers
Nerdies Award for Ear­ly Readers
Junior Library Guild Selection
Par­ents mag­a­zine’s 30 Best Chil­dren’s Books
Texas 2x2 Read­ing List
Ama­zon Best Books

Reviews

“Using the pre­dictabil­i­ty of tra­di­tion­al ‘easy read­er’ books as a spring­board to laugh-out-loud moments, this book is a reward­ing choice for kids tack­ling the not-so-easy task of learn­ing to read.” (Book­list, starred review)

“Kids will cheer for the affront­ed Max in this well-craft­ed ear­ly read­er with sur­pris­ing out­comes.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

“The sharp humor and expres­sive, high­ly dis­tilled gouache car­toon­ing offer oppor­tu­ni­ties for lots of gig­gles, but the real joy of this stand-out begin­ning read­er comes from watch­ing a gen­uine under­dog speak his truth.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly, starred review)

“Car­toon-style illus­tra­tions expert­ly sup­port a text with rep­e­ti­tion and sim­ple sen­tences. As Max pro­gress­es from con­fused to can­ny to com­pe­tent, chil­dren will find a reflec­tion of their own read­ing jour­ney as well as amuse­ment at the metafic­tive aspect of a dog wrestling with a book.” (School Library Jour­nal, starred review)

“This enter­tain­ing explo­ration of words, images, and how they func­tion togeth­er to tell a sto­ry will be pop­u­lar with fans of Mo Willems.” (The Horn Book)

“The book also has all the things a begin­ning read­er needs to suc­ceed, includ­ing words an emerg­ing read­er can decode (dis­played in an acces­si­ble font); short­er sen­tences (the dia­logue here is in speech bub­bles); and brief, engag­ing chap­ters.” (Julie Daniel­son, Sev­en Impos­si­ble Things Before Break­fast)

“… laugh-out-loud fun­ny. A wel­come entry into a crowd­ed field full of too few super­stars.” (Eliz­a­beth Bird, Fuse #8)