book cover

Dread Cat

by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Nicola O’Byrne

Interest age: 4 to 6
Reading age: 6+

Published by Little Gems (Barrington Stoke), 2017

  • Picture books

About this book

Dread Cat does not want to hunt mice, and he devises a devilish plan to make the mice come to him, claiming that the war between cats and mice is over – and dispatching the mice one by one.

Yet, when the mice realise that their numbers are getting seriously depleted, they hatch a plan to make sure that no mouse is unaccounted for. Can they beat Dread Cat’s evil plan?

This short read with full-colour illustrations by Nicola O’Byrne is somewhat of a cautionary tale that we shouldn’t believe everything people tell us, just because they say so. After discovering his dishonesty, the mice band together against the calculating Dread Cat and enact their own justice, but it’s their power as a group that enables them to do so, rather than concentrating on their individual desire for the cheese that Dread Cat tempts them with in the first place.

The Little Gems series are perfect for new readers who might be looking for something with a little bit more text than a standard picture book, but something with plenty of colour pictures and a simple story.

About the author

Michael Rosen is one of Britain’s best loved writers and performance poets for children and adults. His first degree in English Literature and Language was from Wadham College, Oxford and he went on to study for an MA at the University of Reading and a PhD at the former University of North London, now London Metropolitan.

He is currently Professor of Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London where he co-devised and teaches critical approaches to reading on an MA in Children’s Literature, having done the same at Birkbeck, University of London. He has taught on MA courses in universities since 1994.

He was the Children’s Laureate from 2007 to 2009 and has published over 200 books for children and adults, including the recent bestseller Many Different Kinds of Love and On The Move.

More books like this

Share this page Twitter Facebook LinkedIn