Pete the Cat

Litwin, E. (2008). Pete the Cat, New York: HarperCollins Books.

Brief Annotation: Pete the Cat is walking along, singing his song, wearing his favorite white shoes, when lo and behold, he steps in a pile of strawberries that turns his white shoes red! Does Pete freak out? No way, he just keeps walking along and singing his song, until . . . he steps in blueberries! The story continues in a predictable pattern with Pete running into color trouble, but keeping a cool head. The addition of the song Pete sings throughout the story is sure to keep readers and listeners interested.

Genre: Animal fantasy

Grade Level: Pre-k through 2

Readers who will like this: Kids with a good sense of humor, kids who are yearning to read and are drawn to predictable texts that they can “read” on their own, kids learning their colors, kids who would benefit from an appealing role model who knows how to play it cool when things don’t go as anticipated.

Response/Rating (1-4): 4

One question you would ask before a read aloud: What does it mean to be resilient?

Reading Strategies Connection: Readers’ Theater (Tompkins, p. 84). Readers theater invites readers to re-create a story through drama. Students create a script based on the reading (or find published scripts) and perform for a group. This book lends itself to readers’ theater because the text is lively, dramatizing the action would not require props or much space, and the “performers” could engage the audience in answering the question, “Did Pete cry?” [answer: “Goodness, no!”]