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Alligators, bears, and chickens, oh my!

Cover of Little Red Cat Who Ran Awa
A review of Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned his ABC's (the Hard Way) by Patrick McDonnell

Grab your running shoes - we are off!  A little red cat sees an open front door, runs out, and the adventure begins. He is chased by an alligator, then a bear and a chicken - in that order. This nearly wordless book it so much fun on a couple of different levels. Each page has a letter, both the upper and lower case, and a delightful picture the relates to the letter. The reader has to figure out what word is being illustrated. But your job is not done there, you also have to figure out the plot of the book. Plot in an ABC book? Yes, there is a definite story to this book. There is even a little bit of danger.  "Reading" wordless books together provides a wonderful opportunity to have literacy rich conversations. Don't worry if you are not sure what a few of the illustrations are showing, in the back there is a key. The letter guessing is probably best for children that are already pretty familiar with the alphabet, but the story telling and adventure in this book make it fun for children ages 3-6.

Nov 6, 2020