Customer Reviews

Catfish Kate and the Sweet Swamp Band

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

the boys love to read, the girls are in a rowdy band. girls are problem-solvers, they come up with a compromise to solve a conflict. Great rhyming lyrics, dynamic illustrations. my 4-y.o Daughter loves that one of the skunks is reading a book called "stinker belle"

I read this book out loud to a Kindergarten class last week and you wouldn't believe the discussion we had about compromise. We stopped midway through the story to discuss various solutions to Catfish Kate's dilemma (the girls want to play music and the boys want to read) and the kids came up with all kinds of good ideas. Build a wall - take turns - set the words of the books to music (!!!!!). The rhymes are perfect every time - no cheaty near-rhymes, a pet peeve of mine - and the story is guaranteed to please on all levels. I LOVE that the boys are the readers in this story --that's a refreshing change of pace! Loved it.

Catfish Kate broke into a wide grin as she strummed on her banjo. She made up a tune and was singing in the light of the moon while a couple of beetles put their noses up on the dock and watched her attentively. The notes rang through the night and "Along came a new tootle-ootling a flute. Together they began to hum and strum and tootle-oot." The beetles began to dance and this looked like it was going to be a fun, musical night. A snake slithered onto the scene and began to rattle to the beat. ZZZZZZ! A gator soon joined in with his sax and the Sweet Swamp Band was complete once "Skeeter buzzed in with a jazz violin. Spider sat beside her and the joint began to spin."

Things were really hopping and jumping BUT . . . Skin and his Skunktail Boys were also in the swamp. They were sitting on a couple of couches relaxing with their books and paper and needed a bit of quiet to read. Goodness only knows that if you are reading "Stinker Belle," you just don't need a lot of NOISE. Quiet please! Skink and one of the boys just about jumped out of their skins when the band was in full swing. The other two were startled and their eyes were as big as the moon. Skink and the Skunktail boys were very upset and told the Sweet Swamp Band that "This is our swamp and we want QUIET!" There was going to be a lot of trouble if they couldn't compromise!

This is a very comical tale that is a lot of fun. The two conflicting groups both think they own the swamp and are perfectly happy until they realize they are not the only ones living there and need to compromise in order to keep the peace. This is an excellent story for little ones to learn about sharing and compromise in an easy way. The active, cartoon-like artwork was a perfect compliment to this tale. This would be an excellent read and discuss story for circle or storytime. "Psst, what's a compromise? I don't know, do you?"