Read The Cat in the Hat free for 7 days. £7.99/month after - less than a paperback.
Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat is a funny rhyming story for 5 year olds about one very wet afternoon that gets completely out of hand.
It's pouring with rain. A boy and his sister Sally are stuck indoors and bored, and their mother is out for the day. So they sit and stare at the window (and they don't enjoy it one bit).
Then something goes BUMP. In steps a tall, grinning cat in a red and white striped hat, umbrella in hand and full of games he'd love to show them.
The family goldfish is NOT impressed. He wants that cat gone before Mother gets back. The cat has other ideas.
What follows is a wonderful pile-up. The cat balances the fishbowl on his umbrella while hopping on a ball, then keeps adding things. A cake, some books, a toy ship, a fan held in his tail. You can probably guess what happens next! Then out of a big red box come Thing One and Thing Two, who fly kites up and down the hall.
The fun is watching the mess grow while the fish gets crosser and crosser. Who hasn't stared out at a rainy day wishing something exciting would happen? This is that wish with the brakes off.
It's very much a book for children starting to read by themselves. The words are short and simple and there are only a few lines on each page. The rhymes help them guess what's coming, and the same little phrases come back again and again, so your reader will soon be joining in.
About a third of the story pages are pictures only, and that's where a lot of the jokes live. The cat sitting in the wreckage with a toy ship sunk in the cake says more than any sentence could. The big red BUMP and PLOP sound words are hard to miss too, and a few words are printed in small capitals for extra emphasis.
It's short enough to read in one sitting. It ends by handing your reader a question to answer for themselves, which makes for a fun chat afterwards.
If the cat goes down well, Green Eggs and Ham is another Dr. Seuss Beginner Book (look for the same little badge on the cover). This time it's Sam-I-am and a plate of very green food.
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