By: Jan Thomas Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Harcourt Children's Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 40 Publication Date: September 01, 2007 Reading Level: Baby-Preschool
What will Fat Cat sit on? The pig? (Oink!) The chicken? (Cluck!) How about the dog? (Grrrr.)
Everyone in this bumbling animal gang (understandably) hopes the victim will be someone else! Leave it to Mouse to come up with a brilliant solution that satisfies everyone, even Fat Cat himself. Filled with hilarious asides and an interactive question-answer format, this irreverent young picture book will delight toddlers who love to shout "NO!"
Cute drawings, but a pretty average story A funny idea with cute drawings, but the ending let me down more than any other book I've read recently. I don't know why this book is getting all these five-star reviews. I mean, it's alright, and the storytime kids liked it, but it certainly wasn't as good as Mo Willem's "Pigeon" books, and the kids didn't laugh nearly as hard as they have on other books with lower ratings. The book is just a mystery story about a fat cat and other animals being scared that this cat is going to sit on them. Yeah, it's a fun idea, but when you finally find out what he's going to sit on, you want to throw the book across the room because it's such a dumb way to end the book. Oh, and the last joke is equally lame, and entirely predictable. It works for kids, but you should really spend your money on a better book. This isn't something that the kids are gonna want you to read again.
Don't let him sit here! Sometimes the right book comes at exactly the right time. "What Will Fat Cat Sit On?" was that book for me. The Book Fair rep and I had just finished setting up and I was tired and grumpy. At that very moment I found Fat Cat. Being a cat lover, I immediately grabbed, opened, and read.
"What will Fat Cat sit on?" is the thriller extraordinaire! Jan Thomas lets the reader know early in the story what the crime will be. Fat Cat will sit on something! Even the characters in the story know this crime will take place. But where? When? And, oh, how can I receive protection?
There's foreshadowing on the half-title page: a mouse running, in the throes of fear. The edges of huge toes step into the picture. Fat Cat. Oh, run, little mouse! Mouse stops, puts his hands on his hips, as if to say, Why am I running? More of the toes appear. Take no chance, Little Mouse! Run! A big, booming question splatters across the pages like blood: What will Fat Cat sit on?
The cast of characters is small. The ending is totally unexpected. The excitement is high. And the thrill of the chase...to tell more would be creating spoilers.
Artwork is fairly simple but very expressive. Thomas uses an clashing array of colors to suggest the horrors of being sat upon. Facial reactions are priceless! I read the book and laughed out loud at every page. The Book Fair rep said, I don't know why people think that book is funny. I laughed even harder because it so is funny!
A book for all ages. I can't wait to read this to my three- and four-year-olds in the library. The droll humor is not for everyone, but it will appeal to children and those whose childish spirit still lives.
Very highly recommended.
Yeah! My kid reads ME her bedtime book! Perfect for the early beginning reader. Only a couple of words, repeated several times, make up a story that has plenty of personailty. The first REAL beginning reader PICTURE book I have found. One of the few, aside from Hop On Pop, that really only uses a few words to build my 5-year-old's confidence. Can't wait to find more from this author/illustrator!
Break me off a piece of that Fat Cat book Every reviewer I know of lives by a set of self-imposed rules and regulations regarding the books they choose to willingly review of their own free will. My rules include the following stipulation: "The Reviewer will make a sincere effort to review any title that causes her to do a dramatic spit-take after reading the first page of a book. This may also apply after the far rarer event of snorting milk out the nose." "What Will Fat Cat Sit On?" falls squarely into the latter category. I have not enjoyed a picture book this much since... well, I suppose since the last Mo Willems title hit bookstore shelves. Author/illustrator Jan Thomas certainly hits it out of the park with this funny, not to say supremely goofy, picture book title.
Systematically, a narrator asks a couple questions. For example: Will Fat Cat sit on the cow? As we're asked this, a gleeful feline gives a mildly panicked cow the eye. The cow, however, is assured that the Fat Cat will not sit on him (response: "Yee-haw!"). So will the Fat Cat sit on the chicken instead? In a bout of panic the chicken tries to distract us and suggest the pig. Fortunately neither will be sat on today (though if I were the pig I'd be harboring some pretty nasty thoughts towards that two-timing fowl). Other animals are threatened with the Cat's rump, until a mouse brings up the loony idea of the cat maybe trying a big comfy chair. Problem solved, all the animals give a sigh of relief. That is, until the narrator asks, "NOW, what will Fat Cat . . . have for LUNCH?" Exit cast of characters in a blind panic, stage left.
The plot may not sound like much on the outset, but this book is a born readaloud. Here are the first four pages, "Will Fat Cat sit on . . . the COW? Moo? NO! Fat Cat will not sit on the COW! Yee-haw!" Okay, now put the right amount of emphasis on each one of those words and then couple that with the pictures. If done correctly, this is hilarious. Nor does it hurt matters any that the pictures have a kind of thick-lined, madcap giddiness to them. It's Fat Cat's name in the title, and there's a reason for that. Whenever the book speculates on exactly which animal Fat Cat might plant his fanny on, the picture of our hero(?) just cracks me up. Take a look at the cover and you'll get a sense of what I mean. There he is, grinning wildly, an insane glint in his furry little eyes as he anticipates squashing someone beneath his magnificently huge posterior. The fact that cows and pigs are desperately afraid of Fat Cat is funny in and of itself, and you just have to love the book's timing.
I don't normally do this, but check out the Library of Congress plot summary placed on the publication page of this book. "A group of animals is terrified at the prospect of being sat upon by the imposing Fat Cat, until the mouse comes up with a solution that satisfies everyone." One day I am going to meet the person who writes these LIC summaries and I will discover the creator of this particular sentence so that I may cover them in love and kisses. Synthesizing a picture book, any picture book, into a single sentence is a difficult matter for most people, and this one really does a great job of displaying both the humor and the truly bizarre nature of this book.
Someone somewhere is going to tell you that Jan Thomas is the poor man's Mo Willems. Do not listen to the person who informs you of this fact. It is easy to glace at FAT CAT and make gross accusations of this sort. And I might concede that Harcourt would have been more reluctant to public "Fat Cat" had Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! not been the nationwide hit it turned into. I, however, trust that you are the kind of person who can tell a good book from a knock-off. What Jan Thomas has done here is create a book that upsets your expectations right from the start. My husband complained after reading the title that it would make sense if the chicken were threatened with premature sitting before the cow. I disagree. The fact that the larger animal freaks out over the threat of the cat is a much funnier opening than if it were a smaller critter involved. Thomas has an ear and an eye for visual comedy that is as funny to four-year-olds as it is to forty-year-olds. No small feat, I assure you.
Fat cats tend to make for good children's books. The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat by Nurit Karlin is a definite example of this, but it's hardly alone. Consider too Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale by Margaret Read MacDonald, Drat That Fat Cat! by Pat Thomson, or perhaps the equally manic/glassy eyed kitty in Farmer Smart's Fat Cat by James Sage. With this crew of great books available, "What Will Fat Cat Sit On?" is in good company. Arguably the best of the overweight kitty genre, this is a crowd pleaser and bound to be a children's librarian's new best friend. Funny furry stuff.
Three Silly chicks Review Reviewed by Three Silly Chicks - Readers, Writers, and Reviewers of funny books for kids.
There have been many deep and philosophical questions asked in literature. What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? But we think the question Jan Thomas poses tops them all. What, Dear Readers, will Fat Cat sit on?
It is most definitely a question worth pondering. Will Fat Cat sit on the cow? The pig? Certainly not the chicken! (If that had happened we would not be reviewing this book--no siree!) Finally the wise mouse comes up with a solution that pleases everyone. In this rollicking book, the reader gets in on the fun as the narrator asks what Fat Cat will sit on with every spread. Each animal is hoping it's someone else, and their witty asides make this book a pleasure to read out loud. We think it's perfect for threes and fours, but older kids (and adults!) will also love the irreverent humor.
Simple, whimsical illustrations complete this perfect package. This is Jan Thomas's first book. We can't wait to see what's next!
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