If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

By: Laura Numeroff

Illustrated by: Felicia Bond

HarperCollins Publishing Company, 2008

32 Pages

Fantasy

     I chose this book because it is one of many in a series. I have wrote about a couple of the other ones also in this same series. I enjoyed reading the others to my class and this too was a favorite of mine. In this book a girl gives a cat a cupcake. The cat mistakes the girls kindness for weakness and from then on wants more and more. The cupcake leads to sprinkles, then to a trip to the beach and an amusement park. All of this eventually ends back to where they started. The cat is once again given a cupcake with sprinkles. 

     

     The illustrations in the book were great just like the illustrations in all of the other "If You Give a.." series. I am just amazed at how someone can take such a simple idea and turn the pictures into something so amazing. Bond uses beautiful, rich, vibrant watercolor. She includes a black line used for a graphic effect as well. White space is often used in many of Bonds illustrations as well.  

     This book would be appropriate for children age three to third grade. There are many activities you could create using this book. Many teachers have implemented this text into different curriculum across the board. This would be a great book to use for character education. The students would have a great time discussing the difference each character has. The students could also draw a picture to illustrate who they see when they read the text. Using this text for children to learn beginning, middle and end would be a useful tool as well. In this book it tells a story with an "If____, then ___" scenario. The story ends up in the same situation that you started with. Students could use this text in a language arts assignment. The students could fill in the "if" and "then" with their own situations. Laura Numeroff has won many awards for this series of books. She has not won any awards for this specific book.