Laurence Higgins, an enormously fat black cat, has breakfast with Mrs Higgins, lunch with the Normans, tea with old Mr Mason and supper with the Barclay-Lloyds. None of them know why he is so fat on just one meal a day! Lawrence is happy until he finds the walking from house to house tiring and begins to get indigestion. His friends tell him to lose weight if he wants a girl friend so he begins to spend one day in four with all his owners. He gets thinner but the cat he fancies down the road tells him she doesn't like slim boys - she's lost her heart to an enormously fat black cat she used to see up the road! Triumphantly Lawrence returns to his four meals a day, spurred on by the thought of meeting Bella when he's back to his normal size.
Dick King-Smith was born and raised in Gloucestershire, England, surrounded by pet animals. After twenty years as a farmer, he turned to teaching and then to writing children's books.
Dick writes mostly about animals: farmyard fantasy, as he likes to call it, often about pigs, his special favorites. He enjoys writing for children, meeting the children who read his books, and knowing that they get enjoyment from what he does.
Among his well-loved books is Babe, The Gallant Pig, which was recently made into a major motion picture, and was nominated for an Academy Award.
Dick lived with his wife in a small 17th-century cottage, about three miles from the house where he was born.
This book is about a very fat cat called Lawrence, who goes round to four different houses in the neighbourhood eating four different meals a day (Breakfast, Lunch, Snack and dinner). As he goes for his meal, each owner asks 'oh, Lawrence why are you so fat, it's not like i overfeed you', unbeknownst to them he has three further meals. Lawrence would eat his meal then has a nap in the house before moving on to the next house.
one evening Lawrence walks to the park and sees his reflection in the water, where he sees his reflection and realises he is carrying too much weight. He then seeks advice from his friends asking each one whether or not he is fat, they confirm this. With the advice of one of his friends Lawrence decided to only eat one meal a day. so he visited one house each day and depending on the time of day, ate either Breakfast, Lunch, Snack or Dinner before moving onto the next house for the next meal.
As time went on Lawrence lost a lot of weight and decided to meet a female cat further down the road and asked to be friends to which she replied as long as were just friends. It turned out that the female cat liked fat cats and so Lawrence set out to gain weight by eating four meals a day again.
This book is a great read, and quite humorous. It is mainly directed to Ks1 lower Ks2 and is good as a class book or for a child to take home. It could be used to introduce the importance/ consequences of healthy eating and exercising. its also a good read for those who like animals.