Reviews for Pretend you're a cat
School Library Journal
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PreS-K-- Thirteen rhyming verses ask children if they can match the unique characteristics of various animals. The last question, ``What else can you do like a (snake)?'' further extends the imaginative play. Pinkney's preschoolers are clearly having great fun. His watercolors and colored pencils create the soft, imitative motions of children who display with ease how similar they are to the animals. Through body poses, facial expressions, and gaily colored clothing, the children playfully mimic the animal kingdom. Both animals and children are recognizably distinct, yet they warmly blend together. With minimal coaching, these delightful, simple rhymes will be easily learned, recited, and acted out. --Ellen Dibner, East School, Long Beach, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
An invitation to creative movement: ""Can you hiss?/Can you scat?/Can you purr/ Like a cat?/What else can you do like a cat?"". . .or a dog, a fish, a bee, or a variety of other animals. Marzollo neatly avoids sounding singsong-y despite a repetitive verse structure; however, rather than a coda or an invitation for readers to continue on their own, she just stops (""What else can you do like a bear?""), leaving the illustrator to suggest a nap on the last page. Pinkney's exuberant watercolors make clever visual matches between the rather feral-looking animals and the children--some in make-up, masks, or costumes, all vigorously dancing, crawling, slithering, etc. A familiar idea (cf. Ryder's Snail's Spell, 1981) in an unusually lively rendition with superior illustrations. Copyright ŠKirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Ages 3-5. Challenging preschoolers to imitate pigs, cows, birds, and other animals, this upbeat picture book will appeal to their imagination and sense of fun. For each animal, there's a double-page spread with a large illustration and a smaller inset within a border. Sometimes the animals appear in the larger picture, with the children imitating the animal illustration in the smaller; sometimes this scheme is reversed, but the visual interplay between the two illustrations in composition and detail makes an interesting study in itself. For each animal, the rhymed text asks questions, such as, "Can you chew? / Can you munch? / Can you moo / During lunch? / Can you drink / from a pail? / Touch your ear / With your tail? / What else can you do like a cow?" Simple in concept and inviting in design, this book will be a popular choice for story hours. --Carolyn Phelan
Publishers Weekly
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An invitation to action-filled role playing, this clever concept book consists of a series of 13 small poems that ask youngsters to pretend they are animals. ``Are you pink / As a bud? / Can you lie / In the mud? / Can you root? / Can you dig? / Can you snort / Like a pig? / What else can you do like a pig?'' Each double-page spread features an animal or child imitating the actions of the other. Pinkney ( The Talking Eggs ; The Patchwork Quilt ) pictures a boy in mime makeup with black spots who looks as bemused as the spotted cows beside him. Three children purse their lips and wiggle finny fingers like golden aquarium fish. A laughing girl stands on a flowered path in translucent wings and striped stockings, pretending to be a bee. The rhymed verses are vivid and straightforward, and Pinkney's inventive watercolor and pencil drawings are as engaging as the characters and animals he portrays. Ages 4-8. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Fiction: PB An engaging exploration of imagination, movement, and animal characteristics. Eight lines of rhyming text describe each animal and invite the child to think of other notable attributes of the animal. The expansive, uncluttered illustrations depict preschool-aged children mimicking the animal and make all thirteen creatures recognizable. A treat for young minds as well as young bodies. Horn Rating: Superior, well above average. Reviewed by: ef (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly
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"The rhymed verses are vivid and straightforward," said PW of this concept book in a review that praised Pinkney's "inventive, engaging" illustrations. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
