How Many Cats?

by Lauren Thompson, Robin Eley (Illustrator)

What’s a cat to do when left all alone at home? Why, invite the neighborhood cats over, of course! A quiet afternoon for one quickly becomes a party for twenty.
Lauren Thompson’s clever verse will guide young listeners to count from one to twenty and back again, introducing them to early math skills along the way. Kids will have a blast following their favorite felines as they rush and roam through Robin Eley’s vivid and playful illustrations.

Genres: Picture Books, Cats, Animals, Mathematics, Counting, Childrens, Number

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 2009

Reviews

[Kathryn]

Cute enough, but I found it all a bit hectic. For a counting book, some of the page layouts are not helpful.. For example, a two-page spread shows three cats on one page and another cat on the other page--all one continuous picture in the same room of the house. The first words on the page say, "Now how many cats?" Naturally, the child is going to say "four!" (At least, that's how my child counted.) But the wording first starts with the three cats on the left page and then moves on to adding the fourth on the right page. This continues for a few pages... While I suppose there is nothing actually *wrong* with that kind of set-up, I think most children are going to take the pages in their entirety and not focus on left page first then right page in terms of the counting order. So, it's hard to read aloud and try to keep the counting the way it's "supposed" to be. If you just want a fun book with a lot of cats to count, this might fit the bill, but I do think there are better books out there.

[Ad Astra]

It's kind of a confusing counting book because you have different numbers of cats on two different pages. I don't know how to explain it. But for my toddler it was not easy to follow. Cute cats though. Very realistic.

[Olivia S]

Cute counting story, goes up to 20 cats and back down again. Great illustrations. Would be fun for a kid who could do subtraction or a storytime for that age. 4+

[Caroline Herfindahl]

A counting book for cat lovers. Beautiful painted illustrations. Count the cats up to 20 and then back down again.

[What April's Reading]

A fun book about counting cats.

[skcocnaH]

Two stars only for the illustrations.

[Hallie]

This was a cool counting book especially if your students are interested in cats. They count to 20 cats and then they count backwards so I thought that was cool too of you are teaching students how to count.

[Lacey]

Super simple and very cute counting book with cats in it. And doing what they do best, making a mess and running amok. My daughter loved counting how many cats there were on each page. Really helps with the counting process in a 2 1/2 year old.

[Sarah Sammis]

How Many Cats? by Lauren Thompson is a counting forward and backward book framed around the story of a golden retriever's home being invaded by a clowder of cats.

The cats come in groups, first one and then a few at a time. Each page asks the child to count the cats and to see what they are doing as they make a mess in a room in the house. By the time they reach the master bedroom there are twenty cats in all.

Then just as they came, they leave until the dog is left by himself. The dog who at first was happy for the company looks sadly at the mess they have left. Clearly he knows he'll be blamed for what they have done. For as much as I love cats, I have to say, poor dog.

Harriet though loved the book. She loved seeing the cats misbehaving. She loved the illustrations. She loved counting the cats and seeing all the different kinds of cats (including the calicos).

[Raina]

I haven't made a practice of putting in my reviews of picture books, primarily because I keep track of all my storytime books in an Access db, and I don't want to duplicate work.
This book, though, got great reviews, and I thought it would be awesome for storytime, and when I actually looked at it, I was thoroughly disappointed by all the split spreads. I was especially annoyed by all the times the author adds one cat on one side of the spread, and another on the next, so that across the spread you only see the higher number. Now, this would be fine individually, but I can't help but think it would be crazy distracting in a storytime setting. Cute illustrations, cute text, but the arrangement of the elements are obnoxious.

Of course, that's just my opinion.

//rant over

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

This is a slightly unusual counting book in that once the cats are counted as they arrive up to 20, then they're counted down as they leave, but not always one by one. Some of them are counted in groups, so a teacher could use this book for a math lesson in subtraction. Also, in some pictures they're shown in groups, such as threes, twos, or fours, which would work for a multiplication or addition lesson. Of course, the cat pictures are what attracted me. The dog at the beginning of the story just stands by, apparently, and watches while the cats go from room to room making a mess. One wonders where the people are... Recommended for preschool through first, maybe second grade.

[Nina]

I love cats. It took a lot of self control not to give this book a 5, on account of the cats. The realistic (oil or acrylic?) illustrates are amazing. The variety and detail in the cats impressive. No one is the same, and there are lots of cats, 15 in all. With only a golden retriever to guard the house, they take over and cause all kinds of mischief. A great lap book for parents and children to enjoy. The counting of cats starts off simple, but develops in complexity, and includes opportunities to add, subtract and multiply. A great picture book that's versatile. The images and simple rhyme will enchant toddlers, and preschoolers, but the math lessons is great for grades 1-3.

[Heather]

my kids enjoyed this book - what I liked about this book was the groupings of the cats - my newly 5 yo picked up "3 groups of 4 are 12" etc. so more than counting, it was understanding groups of things or kind of multiplying I guess. It was a bit annoying that the book wasn't very consistent on how the cats appeared in the book sometimes adding one, or two or three...so not the best for counting but my 2.5 yo didn't seem to have a problem with it or the counting in the different variations.

[IrenesBookReviews]

A quiet afternoon for one cat becomes a party for 20 when his friends follow him home. The house dog sits quietly by and watches all the mess the cats make. Unrolling the yarn and messing up the kids room are just a couple of the things they mess up. The story ends with all of them playing in the backyard while the dog watches from inside the now messy house! This is a fun counting book with beautiful illustrations.

[Nashiea Edmiston]

The cats in this book are adorable, so is the labrador in the beginning and end who seems annoyed by all the ruckus caused by all the cats. The book has some rhyming, which helps move it along, however, I did not like that the author varied the format of adding the cats on one page then would add another cat on the opposing page and so you would have to recount the cats from the previous page. I can see this getting confusing for some children, especially during a read aloud.

[Gwen the Librarian]

This is a better-than-average counting book with vivid and realistic illustrations. The cats start slinking into the house and causing trouble as we count them, all the way up to 20. Then, the cats start leaving in different numbered groups and we get to subtract. There is a lot to look at in the illustrations and this would be a good vocabulary building book for very young children.

[Karen & Gerard]

This is a fun book that encourages counting and subtracting with very good pictures of cats to count doing all sorts of things. I loved the pictures, trying to find all the cats, and the rhyming of the words. My cats liked this book too because of the good cat pictures and the writing. (Karen's review)

[Molly]

This is a counting book with cats on every page. More for the cat lover than the kids learning to count. But the cats are cute. Still wondering about the one that looked happy in the sink full of sudsy water. AGes 4+

[Irina]

This is a great counting book about cats. I like this book, because not only does it count cats, it adds and subtracts them. This book is great for teaching counting and introducing addition and subtraction to early elementary students. The rhyming makes it very engaging.

[Karen]

I LOVE cats, although three is plenty. And I LOVED the illustrations in this book. The text wasn't bad, and in places, quite clever. But it didn't really move out of the OK category into the really great category. Maybe because there was no story?

[Tara]

Great counting book, especially for someone who loves cats. Pictures are hysterical

[Christiana]

subtraction, counting to 20, cats.

[Megan]

Cute pictures, but the story was blah.

[Debbie]

The story counts cats up to twenty and back down again. Could work in storytime.

[The Library Lady]

Cat lovers will adore this. And people who DON'T like cats?
Well, if they don't, neither the cats nor the cat lovers will care :D

[Paula]

From zero to twenty, a house becomes filled with frolicking cats, who then leave alone or in groups.

[Laura Haske]

The illustrations were our favorite part. The cats are adorable. This is a fun book to introduce math concepts - counting, adding, subtracting and grouping.

[Melle]

This would be a great introduction to simple addition-subtraction word problems. Also, great book for aspiring cat hoarders. Yay for the responsible yarn warning at the beginning of the book,too.

[Maureen]

Nicely illustrated book to help with simple maths. Love the warning at the beginning about not letting cats play with yarn.

[Valleri]

Learning to count to 20 has never been more relevant, or funny, in my children's minds as we read through this tale of a dog who finds he has more and more friends coming over to visit :-)