Review by Booklist Review
Kate and Nate have different interests they would like to share, but initially each disappoints the other. Kate likes making hats, while Nate enjoys his skateboard. When Kate declares that she hates to skate, Nate counters that he hates the hat she is wearing. Tempers flare, but after Nate apologizes, Kate admits, I was a brat, too. Soon they are skateboarding off into the sunset together, each wearing a helmet topped with a creatively bizarre hat. Degen, best known for illustrating the Magic School Bus series, in which Ms. Frizzle's clothing is similarly weird and wonderful, offers beginning readers a book with a very short text written in one-syllable words (the longest one is Wheeee!). Most sentences end in a word using the short a or long a sound, such as hat, bat, flat and skate, grate, gate. With simplified forms and interesting textured effects, the pleasing graphite-and-colored-pencil illustrations create a neighborhood setting in which small shops sell hats, slats, and mats. From the I Like to Read series, here's a satisfying choice for children just getting started.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-When four animals take turns peeking inside a hole, they see animals that look like them. The African dog tells the others, "I saw a hole with a dog." The dialogue is repetitive as each animal declares that the speaker is wrong. Certain of what they saw, the friends allow their tempers to flare, and they stop talking. After a short silence, they march over to the hole to find out who is telling the truth. When all four see themselves, they all smile. Wilhelm's last spread pans back so the reader can see the hole from every side. It's here we see the hole is really a mirror being held up by a nail in the wall. The story that inspired this book ("A Fable" by Mark Twain) is included on the last three pages of the book. Older children may understand the moral as told by the cat. VERDICT A fun story about self-perception, truth, and imagination; a great choice to act out with stuffed animals and a mirror.-Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Degen attempts the daunting task of writing a satisfying story using just 49 words and avoiding singsong rhymes. Nate, a gray, skateboarding kitten, and Kate, an orange kitten enamored of hats, experience a bobble in their friendship. Words in the "-ate" and "-at" word families are used repeatedly. Nate, skate, great, grate, hate, gate, wait, and late, and hat, that, flat, and even brat are repeated often enough that beginning readers will start to recognize and anticipate them and eventually read them. Observant readers will also find some of these words or their variants in the first few illustrations. The 33 sight words are all one syllable and are also used repeatedly. The book succeeds admirably as a beginning reader. Its success as a picture book is more problematic. The story is slight, and the central conflicthurt feelings between friendsis quickly and arbitrarily resolved with Nate's and Kate's mutual apologies when feelings are hurt and subsequent appreciation of each other's enthusiasms. Thankfully, this is accomplished without any preachy adult intervention. Some grown-ups may be uncomfortable with the recurrence of "hate" and "brat," but children will appreciate the unvarnished feelings. For a genuinely clever story about street skating, stick to the almost wordless classic Skates, by Ezra Jack Keats. For a nonpedantic beginning reader, Degen's offering works well enough. (Picture book/early reader. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
