The little red cat who ran away and learned his ABC's (the hard way) by Patrick McDonnell

There's a rather odd little book called Caveman: A B. C. story by Janee Trasler which is sadly out of print but an extremely popular book with my storytime kids, especially preschoolers. Basically, it's an abc story - you start with an "Acorn" and move on through the story as he meets a dinosaur and other creatures, they chase after the caveman, etc. It's really funny and it works great with the kids matching up the abcs. But.... it's out of print.

Now I have a new book that's just as good, if not better! The title page opens with an open door. The little red cat perks up on her cushion and decides to make a run for it...when she promptly encounters an Alligator! Then a Bear, then a Chicken... and so the story continues. Each page features a single letter, in a bold, black typeface, as the little red cat runs across Mountains, swings through the Jungle, stops at a Rest room, and so on. The story gets wilder and wilder until they encounter a Unicorn, share Valentines, Wave goodbye, and the little red cat gets a map with her home marked on it in an X. The last page shows the little red cat and a word for each letter of the alphabet (and yes, I got them all right.)

Verdict: McDonnell's cute cartoons are the perfect venue for this wacky adventure and it makes a great storytime read - wait for the kids to start yelling out the words as they figure out the matching titles and it will be great! I love Caveman, but some of the words are a bit strained and don't have the smooth flow of this title. For older readers, challenge them to create their own alphabetical story.

ISBN: 9780316502467; Published 2017 by Little Brown and Company; Borrowed from another library