Copy Cat

Mark Birchall
Cat was small and Dog was big, and whatever Dog did, Cat did too…
Dog is fed up with Cat copying everything she does. But when Cat stays away, Dog discovers she is lonely without him.
A charming story about friendship, sharing and play.
This book arrived in the Bookstart bag and was initially put to one side, but I found it the other evening and after a quick leaf through, decided it would be ideal as I currently have a four year old who goes to preschool and, and a younger almost three year old who trails around after his big brother as if they are joined together by invisible string – often to his big brothers annoyance!
As the description says, this is a most charming story. Dog is always off on adventures and Cat follows along and is always there… Dog starts to get a bit annoyed at this and turns around one day and calls Cat a ‘copy cat’. He then plans a trip by himself but Cat still manages to turn up and this time he is quite mean to Cat and makes it clear he wants to be left alone.
Well, as you might guess, Cat disappears and Dog begins to realise that it’s not so much fun after all, playing on your own the whole time. It’s good that we get to see that Dog misses Cat and goes round to say sorry.
This is a great book to facilitate discussion about playing together and being friends. Whilst Joshua may get frustrated with Samuel and want to be left alone at times it was good to chat with him about how a lot of the things they do together – playing rugby/football, bouncing on the trampoline or riding up and down on their scooters wouldn’t be quite so much fun if Joshua was always doing it alone, and particularly for them as siblings it was good to remind them how lucky they are to have each other and to be thankful that they have a friend who is always there to play with.
Verdict: A great book to facilitate discussion about playing together and being friends.
Reviewed by Lesley