Easy Reader

Carl and the Kitten

Author/Illustrator - Alexandra Day
Square Fish: (2011)
My Readers series, Level 1

A kitten has climbed up a tree, and is now afraid to climb back down.  Carl the Rottweiler tries various ways to help the kitten return safely to Mama Cat.  Carl, Mama Cat, and her kittens are all introduced in the first pages, along with the plot: one kitten has run away, climbed a tree, and is now afraid to climb back down.  The setting is a backyard with a large tree, which proved to be very enticing to one little kitten.  This book would appeal to both boys and girls, especially those who enjoy stories about animals.  

Appropriate Target Audience:

Carl the Rottweiler is a very popular book character, likely familiar to most children.  Many of the picture books by Day are wordless, so this book for emerging readers (GR Preschool- 1) is not overwhelming, with either too many words, or too much change in the main character.  The illustrations are the same, familiar watercolors that Day uses in all her Carl series.  The is very predictable, with words like Carl, kitten, and tree, backed up by the illustrations.  Even if there were no words, this story could be enjoyed through the beautiful art.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

A possible weakness: one sentence is continued after the page turn, using “…”; which may be confusing to new readers.  Splitting the information into separate sentences would be a safer route for reading success.

The strengths far outweigh that fault.  This simple story line has short, complete sentences, just a few per page, that could work for a new reader.  The text is large and centered in white space.  The illustrations support the story, so the reader could likely figure out the text with the visual prompts. This book is very close to the true Emergent Reader books such as Bob Books, so a good option for a first successful independent read.

Day introduces new words by progression, (tree to branch) and reiteration of an idea:  (I can help you; it’s not so far; I’m much closer now), which are all supported by the beautiful illustrations showing the helpful Carl taking steps to rescue Kitten.  The kitten being afraid to try Carl’s rescue attempts repeats through the story, along with the predictable and fun-to-say “Meow!”  Carl makes the jump less far (and so less scary) by offering different graduated escape options.

Meaningful/Creative Uses:

Carl’s rescue method is a bit shaky – literally – the tower of objects he uses to be close enough to reach Kitten tumbles down after the jump.  This may be a way to talk about being safe: how would you rescue the kitten?  Use a stacking game to demonstrate, or create rescue methods on a Lego table. 

This particular title has not won any awards, although Alexandra Day’s Carl series is very popular, with over 20 titles; Carl’s Christmas was a New York Times Bestseller. 

Read-Alikes: More easy readers for animal lovers:

Biscuit in the Garden, by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, pictures by Pat Schories; a My First I Can Read title.   While the little girl works in the garden, Biscuit explores, discovering insects, flowers, and birds.  Everything she describes to Biscuit, the puppy’s response is: “Woof, woof!”, making for fun repetition.

Mama Loves, by Molly Goode, illustrated by Lisa McCue; a Step Into Reading title.  A series of affirmations of mother’s love, each page is dedicated to a different animal and her offspring.  The simple, rhyming text teaches about the various animals as well:  a whale has a calf, an elephant sprays her baby with water from her trunk. 

Olivia and Her Ducklings, adapted by Veera Hiranandani, illustrated by Shane L. Johnson; a Ready-To-Read title.  Olivia is another popular character, this book ties in with the television show based on the books by Ian Falconer.  Olivia finds ducks in the park, and they follow her home.  This book has more text per page than Carl and the Kitten, but rebus icons are used to help the new reader. 

Tags: My Readers, leveled, series, classic characters, beginning reader, Carl, dog, kitten, rescue, animals, friends, easy reader