April's Book of the Month--See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog

April’s Book of the Month is SEE THE CAT: THREE STORIES ABOUT A DOG, written by David LaRochelle and illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka. It’s the winner of the 2021 Geisel Award for most distinguished beginning reader, and I can see why. This is a hilarious collection of three stories that feature a dog and the narrator, or “book” itself, in conversation—and it’s a rather antagonistic conversation, at that.

The first story is called See the Cat, and begins, appropriately, “See the cat.” So, of course, the righteous canine speaks up: “I am not a cat. I am a dog.” The book, unperturbed, adds more and more absurdities to its description: “See the blue cat/in a green dress/named Baby Cakes…” (The dog’s name is Max.) I won’t give it away, but it works beautifully. Kids will be in stitches.

The second story is called See the Snake. “Here we go again,” says the Dog. This time, the dog is onto the power of the book/narrator, and takes things into his own hands.

The third story—finally—is See the Dog. The dog is very happy until the narrator wants him to “run and jump and spin and fly,” when all the dog really wants is to take a nap. The book threatens to send in a hippo and the dog threatens…well, read it and see!

This is a terrific book—it’s meta and clever and it’s got great kid humor. SEE THE CAT is going on my shelf as an example of how good an easy reader can be!

--Lynn