Love, Splat by Rob Scotton

Love, Splat by Rob Scotton

Rating: 5 lovey stars

Well...I started this on Valentine's Day.  Might as well finish it, despite my tardiness...

We love these Splat books by Rob Scotton.  All of the books have cute, quirky illustrations; they tell a simple, solid message; they inspire some giggles by any boy or girl nearby me.  Can't beat that!

In Love, Splat our sweet but smelly, second-guessing, simply-minded feline hero finds the moxie to write a Valentine to the fluffy cute cat that he likes.  Enter Spike, the cat who is always foiling his plans.  Spike and Splat compete in their own cat ways to show each other (not really Kitten) who likes this special girl more.  With each contest Splat feels more and more sorry for himself--clearly, he thinks, Spike is the better choice. He's so downhearted that he just throws away his Valentine.

Spike doesn't.  He gives his to Kitten.  It is obnoxiously large and says: "You're SO lucky that I like YOU!"  (Are you rolling your eyes?  You should be!  But not in front of your kids, lest they pick up this bad habit.)

"I feel loved when I show off my muscles...  Or sometimes
I act like a living waffle.  I am a walking calculator."

Fluffy daintily plucks Splat's card from the trash, reads it, and loves it.  It says, simply: "I like you!"  She gives him a special Valentine that explains, with a little more flair, that the feeling is mutual.

Simple stuff.  Sweet stuff.  That's about as mushy as I want my kids to read right now!  Though Lorelei declared last week that she wants to marry my good friend's son Owen, my line--that I will be repeating until she is out of college--is "Have boys for friends first."

I've included here one of the many activities creative teachers have done after reading this book to their class.  This teacher had her kids add details to Splat and add words to the heart he is holding.  I smiled at this child's answer to the teacher's first words "I feel loved when..."  What a character this kid seems to be!  Love it.

Splat Says Thank You! by Rob Scotton

Splat Says Thank You! by Rob Scotton

Rating: 5 stars

This book is so up my alley.

Splat wants to cheer up his buddy, Seymour, because Seymour is sick.  So he decides to make a Thank You Book, to thank Seymour for the many things he's done for Splat over the years of their friendship.  His aim is to make Seymour smile.  That's it, that's all.

The examples are cute and specific: Thanks for encouraging me to try out for the school play when I was scared.  Thanks for rescuing me when I got stuck in a tree.  Thanks for sneaking in a flashlight to my room so I could read my book under the covers.

In the end, of course, Seymour is smiling.

We've done a few Get Well Books in our house, for friends who are sick.  Lorelei and Ben will think of things that cheer them up--sometimes just pictures of the sun and rainbows, other times photos of them laughing.  And just today was Ben's teacher's birthday, so I encouraged all the parents to send in home-made, heart-warming notes and messages to her as a little surprise.  There is nothing like the rambling thoughts of a 4 year old: "I love her because she plays with me and also helps me clean up the toys in the classroom and gives me snack when Mrs Cameron isn't there and lets me have more juice."  Praise the days before run-on sentences exist in these little minds!

A thank you book is definitely a great idea for this time of year, to challenge kids to think of those things for which they are thankful.  And, with this thinking, to keep "being thankful" in the forefront of their little minds.  I'd love to see the books Lorelei and Ben would create for each other...

Anyway, we say thanks and make people smile a bunch but we could and should do it even more.  Because what's life all about besides making sure the people you love feel appreciated and loved, and seeing their big smiles?

This is our first book with Splat the Cat, but we already want more of him!  It was definitely a good introduction, sweet and silly, cute and meaningful.  That makes a great book, according to us.