Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Complete Cat in the Hat
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
HarperCollins Children's Books, 2004 ISBN: 978-0007179565
Sally and her brother are sitting indoors on a rainy day doing "nothing at all" and not liking the situation "one little bit" and then something quite extraordinary happens; the Cat in a Hat walks in the door and tells them that they should play some games and that he has some tricks that he can show them. The problem is, would their absent mother approve? The fish in its bowl thinks not and tells them in no uncertain terms what it thinks of the Cat in the Hat and its antics. The Cat is quite unconcerned and goes on to show the children all sorts of remarkable things that he can do, most of which I'm afraid to say are not the kind of thing a mother would like to have a children doing. What on earth are the children to do with the Cat and his mess-making activities?
In the second story, "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back," Sally and her brother are up to their eyebrows in snow and there mother has given them the job of shovelling the snow away from the house. Dear me what a job the two children have ahead of them and then things get oh so much more complicated when the Cat in the Hat turns up. Sally warns that they should have nothing to do with the cat and his "bad tricks" but the jovial feline assures him that he will "find something to do" in the house while they work outside. When the boy gets inside he finds, sure enough, that the Cat in the Hat is up to his old tricks and making a dreadful mess in the bathroom, having a bath and eating cake. What follows is a series of disasters as the cat tries to clean up the mess he has made. In the end The Cat has to call in a few friends to help and the result is... well you have to see it to believe it.
In this wonderful bound collection of the two Cat in the Hat stories, the reader will not only find the two stories with their wonderful precocious cat character but there is also an introduction written by Dr. Seuss's wife Audrey and also a biography about the man who became Dr. Seuss.
