A Decodable Book: Fat Cat on a Mat
Title: Fat Cat on a Mat
Author: Phil Roxbee
Illustrator: Stephen Cartwright
Publisher: Usborne
ISBN: 978-0794515027
As a mother of three, my children
and I have grown to love books published by Usborn, the United Kingdom-based
publisher of children's books.In my experience of raising my children, I have
learned that not all children learn to read the same way or at the same time.
Some children require a more systematic approach to being taught to read.
Decodable books are part of that systematic way of making a child find comfort in
books. Decodable books are classified as books for beginners or struggling
readers that contain words that have already been learned and can phonetically
be sounded out. Examples of these are basic words like "sat",
"hat", and "mat".
After reading this book again today
and evaluating the book's structure, I find that I really love this book and
would give it 4 out of 4 stars. This book is full of rhyming words, animals and
great pictures. It is perfect for engaging early readers. The story-line
follows Fat Cat who flees a bee by climbing up a tree. He comes upon a nest of
eggs when one of the branches breaks. The next day Fat Cat is found resting on
his mat and will not move when invited by his friends to play. He turns down
several offers to join his friends and is even accused of being lazy for not
wanting to move from his mat. There is a huge twist at the end that really
warms the heart!
I read this book with my son
Noah. Although he is on a second grade reading level, he still enjoyed reading
this book with me. He certainly loved the twist at the end. Noah initially
perceived Fat Cat as a “meanie”. It’s funny how this “meanie” turned into a
hero in a matter of minutes.
The book "Fat Cat on the
Mat" not only uses rhyming words, animals and great pictures to engage
young readers, it follows the decodable book pattern with the use of basic
phonetic words like those found in the first page “Fat Cat sees a bee.” The
majority of the words in the book are composed of one syllable words that can
easily be sounded out.
I read Fat cat on a mat as well and I also really enjoyed reading the book. Just like your son I thought the cat came off as a "meanie" and did not like her that much until the very end. I really do think that this book would help an early reader want to read more because the words are basic but the story is anything from that. And even though this book is meant for beginners I can see the story appealing to children who may have been reading for a while. The most interesting thing to me is that Usborne used "fat, cat, and mat" some of the most basic words that we have in the english language and created something fun and easy for beginners to read.
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