Have You Seen My Cat?

by Eric Carle. (Scholastic, 1987 ISBN 0-590-44461-1) Picture Book. Grades Pre-K+.
This review by Carol Otis Hurst first appeared in Teaching K-8 Magazine.

Review

The title question is asked over and over again by a boy in search of his pet. Wordlessly, the people he asks point to a cat and each time he says, "That is not my cat!" As a bonus to this easily interpreted book, at the beginning and end of the book the various cats are identified as: lion, bobcat, panther, tiger, puma, jaguar, cheetah and persian cat. This gives lots of opportunity for classifying and identifying. So does the fact that each of the "pointers" in this book are engaged in a different occupation. You can go from this one to other cat books or to a study of the cat family or just put it down and go to something entirely different. One more thing: the text of Have You Seen My Cat? is hand printed in a style similar to the manuscript kids are seeing outside of books. It might make transference from reading to writing a little easier for some.

Related Areas within Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

• Featured Author: Eric Carle
• First Books for Emergent Readers (an article).