The Basics

Title: Splat the Cat and the Hotshot
Author: Laura Driscoll (based on the books by Rob Scotton)
ISBN: 9780062294166
Copyright Date: 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Reader Brand: I Can Read!
Level: Level 1 Beginning Reading
Series: Splat the Cat (Splat the Cat Makes Dad Glad, Splat the Cat Up In the Air at the Fair, Splat the Cat Blow Snow Blow, Splat the Cat A Whale of a Tale, Splat the Cat With a Bang and a Clang, Splat the Cat The Rain is a Pain, Splat the Cat The Name of the Game, Splat the Cat Takes the Cake, Splat the Cat and the Duck With No Quack, Splat the Cat Good Night Sleep Tight, Splat the Cat Sings Flat)

Thoughts

Splat the Cat is feeling upstaged when a new friend has all the answers at cat scouts. But when the new cat can’t fix a problem, Splat finds that he had talents of his own! The book’s ultimate message is about teamwork.

As with each book in the series, readers are working on a particular sound — “ot” in this case (Scott/Mott/lot/spot/knot/pot/forgot/hot/apricots/spot/rot/not/swat) — which gives readers time to work on their rhyming words. [Some of those may not rhyme depending on your geographical accent.]

The Splat books are a great “bridging” up book for children who loved the Splat the Cat picture books. They will be thrilled when they are able to read a Splat book all on their own. For me, personally, the Splat books leave me feeling a little underwhelmed (to be fair, the picture books also do). Sometimes the rhymes seem a bit forced and some of the words can be difficult for what I consider a “Level 1” reader to be.

Overall, the series is still hugely popular at my library and I will continue to connect kids to the Splat books and to purchase the readers. Recommended for libraries with cat fanatics or Splat fans.