On my highest choice for very beginning readers. Mo Willems, I don't know how you manage to rock absolutely everything you write, but this series is no exception. ( )

Mo Willems's previously introduced character Cat the Cat returns to meet some other animals and find out if they can fly.

I love Willems's philosophy about writing for children, which I'll paraphrase (because I don't remember the specific wordage, just the spirit of it): "Children aren't stupider than adults, they're just shorter." It doesn't seem like Willems followed his own advice with this book, as it isn't as clever as his other books. There really isn't a plot to speak of or any particularly interesting language choices (e.g., alliteration or rhyming). There's a quick visual reference to the Pigeon character, which is fun but brief. Otherwise, there's not a ton to recommend this book, and I'd much rather point readers in the direction of some of Willems's much more hilarious works. ( )

A good book for young children who like animals.
The students will enjoy listening to the Cat in a read-aloud setting or as individual practice. ( )

Let's Say Hi to Friends Who Fly! by Mo Willems is part of his new series of emergent reader books staring Cat the cat. As annoying as a name that might seem, repetition has been shown to help some beginning readers (Lynch-Brown, Tomlinson, & Short, 2010). These books are aimed at that subset of readers.

Cat the cat is at the playground and wants to introduce, you, the reader, to his friends who fly. There's Bat the Bat, Bee the bee, Bird the bird and so forth. As the book progresses, things start to get a little silly to reward first time readers for their efforts.

When my daughter was first learning to read at the start of 2011, the Cat the cat books were perfect for her. She liked them enough that we still sometimes call Caligula cat, "Cat the cat." The books gave her the confidence in her reading to move onto the funnier but more complicated Elephant and Piggie series (also by Mo Willems). ( )

Review from library copy.

Cute ( )