Fetch, Cat. Fetch!

by Charles Ghigna, Michelle Hazelwood Hyde (Illustrator)

Fetch, Cat. Fetch! is an endearing message of patience and love mixed with a big dose of humor. A winning combination when dealing with pets ... and people!

Author Charles Ghigna--Father Goose(R)--masterfully encourages young children to build reading comprehension skills and to gain confidence in this comical look at a special bond between a girl and her beloved cat. This beginning reader, through simple language and short sentences, captures the laughter and joy of watching a sweet, patient child trying to teach her cat to do tricks. The lovable, stubborn, lazy pet cat, on the other hand, just wants to nap all day and refuses her attempts to play fetch, or to sit, shake, roll over, or do any other tricks that a dog would do.

Subtle humor, sight words, and lots of repetition make this a unique and fun first independent reading book. And just when the reader thinks the cat will finally get his nap, a clever twist of irony will have children laughing hysterically. The girl finally gives up and asks the cat to stay, and that's when he finally gets up--and runs away!

Genres: Picture Books, Cats, Animals, Humor

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2022

About the author

Charles Ghigna - Father Goose® lives in a treehouse in the middle of Alabama. He is the author of more than 100 books from Random House, Disney, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Time Inc. and other publishers. He has written more than 5,000 poems for children and adults that have appeared in anthologies, newspapers and magazines ranging from The New Yorker and Harper’s to Highlights and Cricket magazines. He served as poet-in-residence and chair of creative writing at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, instructor of creative writing at Samford University, poetry editor of English Journal for the National Council of Teachers of English, and as a nationally syndicated poetry feature writer for Tribune Media Services. He speaks at schools, conferences, libraries, and literary events throughout the U.S. and overseas, and has read his poems at The Library of Congress, The John F. Kennedy Center, American Library in Paris, American School in Paris, and the International Schools of South America. For more information, visit his website at FatherGoose.com

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a young girl, her beloved cat is her playmate. However, cats being what they are, this tale shows no matter the enthusiasm, the cat sits and looks, lies down and looks, and does not "Fetch" or "Roll" or "Heel". It's a book for early readers and lots of repetition and laughs as Charles Ghigna offers the words for play and Michelle Hazelwood Hyde fills the pages with a young girl loving her cat, never mind it doesn't play the way she wishes. Lots of smiles happen when reading this tale, especially if you are a cat lover!
Thanks to Schiffer Publishing Ltd. for the copy!

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly, frivolous thing of a silly, frivolous girl wanting her family cat to do everything she asks – jump about with a skipping rope, climb into her tree house, behave at the teddy bears' picnic she's invited it to – and not getting the required response. Here, I can say that silly and frivolous are just about virtues – they're clearly not all the time, of course – and that this will entertain, especially those at an age when they are starting to recognise typical cat and dog behaviour. As for re-reads, however, I can't see them being that common. Three and a half stars.

[Elizabeth]

Typical cat. (Dogs are better!)

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss.

[Syntha Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be great for beginning readers

[Virgil Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute pictures