All three of my kids love finding the yellow bird that follows him around on every page. He's laid back, cool, and groovy with beautiful and colorful illustration. Not only did he love them, but my 2 yr old twins do as well. Then I checked out some of the books, to see if he'd like them. Didn't know anything about them, until I saw a Pete the Cat class at my local library for my K-5 grade and signed him up. Thank you to my amazing co-worker Rebecca for sharing the book with me! Whether children will note the lesson of this big picture perspective and find beauty in their own mistakes is questionable, but also beside the point when the story is so enjoyable. The moral is clearly stated at the end: 'no matter what you step in, keep walking along and singing your song.

The rustic, colorful illustrations capture the casual, go with the flow nature of this zen cat whose expression remains the same throughout the story. Pete's song, 'I love my _ shoes,' repeated three times, invites audience participation along with the direct, reoccurring questions above. Shoe transformation occurs three more times with varying slants (and oddly enough, another mountain of fruit) but each time, 'Did Pete cry?' 'Goodness, no! He kept walking along and singing his song.' Meet this happy go-lucky cat out for a stroll in his brand new white shoes when he happens to step in a huge pile of strawberries! 'What color did it turn his shoes?' My latest storytime discovery combines my two loves: a positive attitude and, well, shoes.

You can even purchase Pete the plushie from the Atlanta artist who created him! It might not be for squares, but all you hip cats out there will love Pete.

So your sippy cup doesn't get instantaneously refilled? So Mommy won't let you play with the suffocating plastic bag? So you have to stop wearing diapers and be potty trained? Don't throw a fit! Keep walking along and singing your song because it's all good.Īnd since it's impossible to teach this lesson without cool jazz, the book includes a downloadable version of the author reading the book and singing Pete's songs with musical accompaniment. I think chilling out is certainly something I want my child to learn. One reviewer felt that this book does not teach children appropriate problem solving skills. Despite getting his brand new shoes in a variety of stain situations that would challenge a Tide commercial, Pete the Cat keeps 'walking along and singing his song, because it's all good'. If cool jazz wrote a children's book, this is it.

Mr eric pete the cat