They spot some ewes. / They use a box.
They box some fleas. / And flee a steer.
Lillian, Tilly, and William J. are inquisitive cats spending an afternoon snacking and reading, but wind up chasing words, including homophones and homonyms, on a silly tongue twister of an adventure!
Greenwillow Books, 2012, hardcover, 40 pages, 978-0-06191-516-1
purchase links: local bookseller : barnes & noble : amazon
resources
Cat Tale teaching guide
awards and recognition
Kirkus Reviews Best of 2012
selected reviews
New York Times (starred review)
“Eye-poppingly bright and friendly … a twisty, imaginative story … with ‘read it again’ magic.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A wacky and thought-provoking read-aloud, one that’s likely to become a favorite.”
Children’s Literature
“Hall’s sentences trip lightly off the tongue; his paper cutout creatures delight the eye. Fun abounds from start to finish in this creative circus showcasing the wildly inventive ways we can play with words.”
School Library Journal
“Hall’s book of wordplay featuring homophones and homonyms is deceptively simple in appearance but sophisticated in concept.”
“Smart and accessible, charming and witty, this is one for educators and adventurers alike.”
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Hall’s latest outing is entertaining both for its unusual cast of characters and its amusing yarn-spinning. … This could entertain a group, who will giggle at … this clever tale.”
“Wielding homonyms like weapons, Hall brings his artistic sensibilities (to say nothing of his love of controlled chaos) to the wordplay realm and the end result is that everyone’s a winner for it.”
“[Cat Tale] has such a breezy, infectiously lyrical, and rib-tickling tasty text that I am quite tempted to commit it to memory.”
“Read-alouds, like the book itself, should devolve into ridiculous shenanigans.”
