If You Give A Cat A Cupcake

If You Give... #7

by Laura Joffe Numeroff

If You Give A Cat A Cupcake by Numeroff, Laura

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Cats, Animals, Fiction, Food, Storytime

Hardcover

First published September 30, 2008

About the author

Laura Joffe Numeroff is the NYT best-selling author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, What Mommies/Daddies Do Best and Raising a Hero. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Pratt Institute. Laura grew up as the youngest of three girls, surrounded by art, music, and books. An avid animal lover, Laura has always wanted to write a book about service dogs. She now lives in Los Angeles, California.

Reviews

[Greg]

I had no idea all of the trouble giving a cat cupcake would lead to. Now I do know, and if my cat ever wants a cupcake I'm going to say no. No, Mooncheese, you may not have a cupcake. And even if she meows angrily at me I'll still not give in, although then she might do other things that would be even worse than if I had given her a cupcake. Instead I will keep my cat in total ignorance about the existence of cupcakes and save myself a heap of trouble.

[Rossy]

Didn't like this one so much, because the sequence of events didn't make sense to me, unlike the other "If you give... " books I've read so far.

[Diane D]

So I decided to treat myself to this adorable children's book.

If you give a cat a cupcake, he’ll ask for some sprinkles to go with it. When you give him the sprinkles, he might spill some on the floor. Cleaning up will make him hot, so you’ll give him a bathing suit . . . and that’s just the beginning!
This parable teaches kids that if you give a cat a cupcake then soon after the cat expect much more. The cat just asks for sprinkles at first, but next thing you know, the cat's dragging the child to the beach, the amusement park, and the museum, forcing the child to carry all its stuff, and then making the child clean up the mess behind.

The lovable cat who first appeared in If You Give a Pig a Party now has his very own book! Written in the tradition of the bestselling If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond’s newest story will show everyone that Cat is where it’s at!
A must read for young and old. Fun illustrations and a cute story as well.

[Kathy]

Love all of the "If you give ..." books. Such a fun series, especially for reading to little ones. This was fun but the original "If you give a mouse to cookie" is still my favorite.

[Tressa]

Parents, who know all to well that the moment they sit down their children will ask for something, which will lead to something else, and then to something else, will enjoy the tables being turned on some frazzled children trying to appease some needy animals.

In Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, a kind young girl offers a cat a cupcake. Not satisfied, the cat wants some sprinkles to go with it. When he spills them on the floor and has to sweep them up, he gets hot and is put into a bathing suit and taken to the beach. Before she knows it, the girl has taken him to the gym, a karate class, rock climbing, boat rowing, on a merry-go-round ride, the science museum, and finally back home. The sand emptied from his shoes reminds him of sprinkles, and, of course, he's going to need a cupcake to go with them!

The animals take center stage in this fun series as the girls and boys tire themselves out trying to keep up with their demands.

Other books in the If You Give series:
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985)
If You Give a Mouse a Muffin (1991)
If You Give a Pig a Pancake (1998)
The Best Mouse Cookie (1999)
If You Take a Mouse to the Movies (2000)
If You Take a Mouse to School (2002)
If You Give a Pig a Party (2005)

[Lisa Vegan]

I loved If You Give a Moose a Muffin and really liked If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Here’s another one that uses the alliteration I enjoy. I think that I decided to read this one too because of all the vegan cupcakes I’ve been eating, and trying to give up. Of course, as with these other If You Give a … books, cupcakes are a very small part of it. This is a cute addition to these books and it’s worth reading if you like the others, and it would be a fine one to start with as well.

[Gina]

There's something too charming about the If You Give a [Animal] a [Food] formula not to like. However, this one features a lot of water-themed activities for a cat!

[Janin]

It was short. It was silly. It was beyond implausible. And my seven year old very much enjoyed it.

[Cosette]

I think it's a pretty fair assumption that the author has spent no quality time with a cat prior to writing this book.
This book still bothers me - but my kid likes it. Go figure.

[Shiloah]

We love the wild and zany adventures that happen in these books.

[Emma]

I did not realize before I found this at the library that this was a series of books. We own a copy of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and it is a much loved, oft-repeated story in our house. Maybe that's why I didn't like this one very much. Maybe I started out with some bias. I couldn't help but compare the two stories.

So, in comparison, this one seemed silly and nonsensical whereas Mouse/Cookie was comical. It felt as if the young lady feeding this cat cupcakes (and, for starters, I have it on good authority that few cats would actually eat a cupcake) was dragging out her adventure just to make a book out of it. I mean, what does going to the beach have to do with cupcake sprinkles anyway?

Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

[Joshua Arnett]

"If you take a cat to the ocean, he'll want to go in the water." Tried this and now my cat hates me. I tried to give him the cupcake this book claims he would love to make up for it. He didn't like that either. More lies from Big Childrens Publishing. Thanks for nothing, Laura Joffe Numeroff.

[Betsy]

Consequences of every action is great!

[Matthew J]

i think it is good







theme:
think before doing something

[Thomas Schiefer]

it a good book

[Tait Gould]

Cousin read this out loud therefore it’s added to my book count

[Ann]

Emery loves cat books so we’re reading this over and over. I’ve always loved all the books in this series.

[Andrea]

Read this to one of my students

[isabel]

i found this at the thrift store for $1.50 and it reminded me of my copy of ‘if you take a mouse to the movies’ (which was also at the thrift store). i decided then that i will now be collecting this books. this was the perfect one to kickstart my collection.

[Jessi Color]

Pretty cute. I bought it for my niece, who loves cats and just started reading on her own. 💗

[Mark Druding]

You would think they would have learned by now

[Ami]

The kindergarteners loved it. As they should- a cat in a swim suit is delightful.

[Andy]

I don't understand how you can screw up the simple concept of causality, but they did, multiple times.

[Rebecca]

This may be my favorite in the series -- the little girl looks a lot like my own, and we get to say "HI-YAH" in the course of reading this book. :)

In all seriousness, I've read some criticism from some people about these books (too simplistic), but I think that kids of all ages simply cannot get enough of "this is what happens next when ..." I'd like to think that it helps develop their decision making abilities, even if those go only so far as "this is what happens next if I choose to use this permanent marker on the wall." :)

[Burgandy Ice]

I love reading this book with my 7 yr old. The circular logic is hugely entertaining as one thing leads to another... beginning and ending with cupcakes. And who doesn't like cupcakes? The Cat is so mischievousness and the little girl in charge helps the Cat with so much enthusiasm, this book is a fun read. PLUS... my daughter is able to sound out the words she doesn't know easily. It's hard to find a picture book that is fun for kids to read AND fun for parents to hear repeatedly. This book is a winner!!

[Sande]

I have loved these books since the day I read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. I use to say "oh, my boys just loved these books" when actually it was. It was ME! Read them and enjoy being a kid again. It's all about the sprinkles. )

[Zach Costello]

This book is about giving a cat a cupcake and what will happen after. The cat will want many things that will eventually lead to others. Can the girl who gave the cat a cupcake keep up with what the cat wants? I recommend this book to everyone from kids to parents who enhoy short stories. It is a good book about how to make a cat happy.

[Veronica]

Read for Homosassa Bedtime Stories on 11/10/2009. Theme: Cats. Paired with "Muffin Man" song.

If you give a cat a cupcake, you might have enough material to write a book. Great tie-ins and repetition but the illustrations are a little small for Storytime.

[Paul]

Year One Point Five Plus: Our little one loves it when we turn to the page where the cat is doing karate and we say, "Hi-Yah!" (featuring the basic "If-then" sentence structure!) and do karate-kid-like chops, kicks, and shouts.

[Jenna]

Our theme for fall break has been using this series. The kids loved this story, which was clear when they were able to finish the story without the teacher even having to read the last page. Decorating cupcakes was a great fillip activity to this book!