Monday, February 16, 2015

PB14:14 Day 2: Splat says Thank You! by Rob Scotton

Yeah! Our local library had several picture books in English and French. So I picked up a few new books for the Picture Book 14:14 challenge. Here is my post for day 2.

Title:  Splat says Thank You!
Author:  Rob Scotton
Illustrator:  Rob Scotton
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Year: 2012
Word count: approx. 400
Top 10 Element: theme

Apparently there is a whole series of Splat picture books and this is the first I've come across. (That's one of the down sides of living in a foreign country.) So, you might already be familiar with Splat and his best friend, Seymour. What makes this friendship special is that Splat is a cat and Seymour is a mouse. Not your typical friends but they are oh so cute. The illustrations are a treat. The cover illlustration is nice but not nearly as great as the ones IN the book (in my opinion.) Some of them are very funny.

Here is the cover photo:

Splat says Thank You! cover (written & illus. by Rob Scotton)

 
The tale starts with a picture of Seymour in his bed, sleepy-eyed, furry grey snout turned downward and covered in spots. Poor Seymour is not feeling well. Spat wants to cheer him up a bit and pulls out a book from the drawer. But this is not a regular book. No. This is a very special book. What makes it so special? It is a friendship book that Splat made himself and it is called Thank You, Seymour.

Splat reads the book to Seymour. Each part repeats the form "When I (did something or other) you....(did something to help)" and ends with a "thank you".

For example, "When I was scared to audition for the school play, you encouraged me to do it anyway," said Splat. "Thank you!" Or "When I borrowed my brother's kite and we played for hours, you made it so much fun."


Throughout the book, Splat recalls all those moments when Seymour was there for him and thanks him for it. It is a sweet book dealing with the concept of friendship and the wonderful illustrations add a bit of a humorous side as well. This would be a great teaching tool for teachers of young children. It can certainly be a lead in to the questions "What is a friend?" Children could even make their own friendship books to say thanks to their good friend(s).



THANK YOU...


for stopping by today. Please be sure to visit the other participants blogposts. The links can be found here:

 http://christiewrightwild.blogspot.de/2015/02/day-2-swirl-by-swirl-spirals-in-nature.html

 Today's code is:

<script src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=15DBA8FD-BC41-4F97-862A-5FAFD1A92C30" type="text/javascript">

2 comments:

Damon Dean said...

Linda, love the universal theme here of friendship! And the way that it emphasizes that friendship is possible even for quiet different characters.

Vivian Kirkfield said...

This looks like a fun book, Linda! Thanks for adding it to the PB 14:14 pile. ;)