*****Clever Cat

Reviewed September 9, 2001.
Available at Sembach Library.  (E COL)

To me, this book is hilarious.  Here’s the basic story:  A cat gets tired of waiting for his family to feed him, so he learns to use the can opener and feed himself.  Things progress, until finally he’s given the cash card to get money and buy his own food.  Well, things get a little out of hand, so the family insists that he make up for all this money he’s spending, and they demand that he get a job.  When he finally realizes how much worse off he is and goes back to resting and waiting to be fed, then his fellow cats finally give him the title “Clever cat.”

Okay, the message is not necessarily one that you want your kids to take to heart!  I think there are many men out there who use this idea when it comes to housework!  (Sorry, I had to get that in.)  But the fact is, the illustrations and wording in this book make it tremendously funny.  And you can always use it to talk to your kids about why playing dumb is NOT a good strategy for life!

Copyright © 2003 Sondra Eklund.  All rights reserved.

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