Cat on the Mat

by Susan Schade

Cat has a dream. She runs. She flips. She jumps. She slips. Will Cat make the team.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Sports

32 pages, Paperback

First published December 18, 1998

About the author

Susan Schade is the author of over forty children's books, including the Fog Mound series, written in collaboration with her husband, Jon Buller. She lives in Lyme, Connecticut.

Reviews

[Autumn]

A and I were looking for books on the overdrive app and happened to see this one. I grabbed it thinking A would like it. It was okay for her as she was trying to read by herself (she is still learning). Some of the words were too small and I am sure it was a formatting issue. Overall it was okay. Cat and her friends becoming gymnasts show to just never give up and keep trying. When I ask A if she liked it her response was ehh can we read something different after we had already finished.

[Vishvag Marath]

it was quite good

[Becky B]

Cat and her friend Rat are bored, so they decide to try out gymnastics. Cat is a little wary and not sure she'll make the team, but she and the others who try out each have events they soar in.

There are very few gymnastics books out there, especially ones that highlight the four main events in competitive gymnastics. I kept having to turn off parts of my brain that were thinking too hard (like wondering how cat wasn't good at everything and how a chicken would beat a cat in bars...or the fact that a cat and rat are best friends), but just let the fiction run with it and have fun. Hand this to little gymnasts and animal lovers just starting to read.

[Sarah]

A great twist on the ol' Cat on the Mat phonics readers. This time it is a gymnastics mat, and it is still a great story for learning to decode. Cat's family can all do something special, but she feels out of place and clumsy until she and her friend Rat try out for a gymnastics team. Will Cat make the team? A great story to talk about practice and stick-to-it-iveness for little ones (and they will feel successful to read it to themselves!).

[Leigh]

Extremely underrated. Great message, cute pictures, and I really enjoyed the characterization of all the characters. Out of all of these level reader we've checked out and gone through, I would buy this one if I found it.

[Jessica]

The twins enjoyed reading a book aloud about gymnastics. Because it was something they also enjoyed, they enjoyed reading this more and would get excited every time something happened in the book they knew.

[Shannon Bradbury]

An easy reader for kids to jump into and enjoy. Cat can do all sorts of things. Your child will enjoy reading this one.

[Jackie Busche]

Summary: Cat is bored at home so her and her friend Rat go for a walk. On the walk they pass a gymnastics class. They decide to join and want to try out for the team. After working hard all summer, she makes the team.

Evaluation: This is a very simple book to read. It would be very good for early readers. It has controlled vocabulary and the pages are similarly structured so that they can understand and catch on to the patterns.

Teaching Ideas: We used this book in my placement for run on sentences. We wrote the book on thermal paper as one large run on sentence. The students then had to cut up the paper into what they thought were how the sentences were in the book and add punctuation.

[Colleen]

Good reader for young children; fun drawings.