Luna the Wake-up Cat

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

The "Rookie Reader" series has been around for years and this is a new subseries entitled "Rookie Read to Learn: Animals." A young girl has a delightful pet cat. The cat comes and scratches at her door to make sure that she wakes up. Since the door is ajar, the cat comes right in and snuggles under the quilt with her mistress. Together they have some enjoyable moments together before Luna the cat and her mistress head downstairs to breakfast. The illustrations are warm and show a happy girl and a friendly cat. One thing did strike me as a little anachronistic—a milk bottle on the table. Today most milk comes in plastic jugs or paper cartons. After the story is finished there is a brief blurb about the author and illustrator followed by pages of activities. They include a poem, a pattern recognition game, another to recognize colors, a listening game and an opportunity to describe what takes place in the reader/listener's morning. The final page contains a list of the 64 words that make up the story. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot