If I Ran the Rain Forest: All About Tropical Rain Forests (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library) [Hardcover]

Bonnie Worth (Author), Aristides Ruiz (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up | Series: Cat in the Hat's Learning Library

The Cat in the Hat takes Sally and Dick for an “umbrella-vator” ride through the understory, canopy, and emergent layers of a tropical rain forest, encountering a host of plants, animals, and native peoples along the way.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

The Cat in the Hat takes Sally and Dick for an ?umbrella-vator? ride through the understory, canopy, and emergent layers of a tropical rain forest, encountering a host of plants, animals, and native peoples along the way.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (April 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375810978
• ISBN-13: 978-0375810978
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.4 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Nature > Forests & Trees
  • #42 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Nature > Environment

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting way to introduce rain forests to children, October 25, 2004

By 

peachyqueen27 "peachyqueen27" (Huntsville, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If I Ran the Rain Forest: All About Tropical Rain Forests (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library) (Hardcover)

This is one of the best of The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library. The rhyming style is excellent. This book introduces such concepts as four levels of the rain forest, transpiration, animals in the forest, pollination, and camouflage.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not impressed, January 17, 2007

By 

The Handy Lady (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If I Ran the Rain Forest: All About Tropical Rain Forests (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library) (Hardcover)

This is the first time I've read a book from the Cat in the Hat Learning Library, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I wasn't expecting this.

The illustrations make it look like the kids and the cat are having an adventure in the rainforest. But they aren't. They're just on a field trip, I guess.

The book goes over the four levels of the rainforest and names the different types of animals, plants, and people you would find in a rainforest. The main focus of the book seems to be maintaining the rhyme scheme rather than giving detailed information. At times, clarity is even sacrificed in order to maintain the rhyme. For example, "Millions of acres of land every year are cut down..." Cutting down land is confusing to a child. Usually trees or plants are cut down.

One funny thing was that the cat in the hat says he will give you a prize if you find these six things. Well, he's talking to the kids he is traveling with, not "you" the reader. So my 5-year-old son jumped in and named the things, then said "Where's my prize?"

So after around 40 pages of naming and discussing rainforest plants, animals, and people, a bulldozer showed up on the second to last page and the animals are running for their lives. On the last page the cat in the hat says "Save these trees please!" The end. Well, I like the environmental theme, but I had an awful lot of explaining to do when the bulldozer showed up. I think the book should have begun where it ended, because that is where the real story is. I buy books for my kids in the hope that the author can explain and illustrate a topic better than I can.

My son only asked me to read this book once, then never picked it up again.

I gave the book two stars for the unusual format. The novelty might appeal to some kids.

4.0 out of 5 stars Educational and Enjoyable, October 23, 2011

By 

GnvCane - See all my reviews

This review is from: If I Ran the Rain Forest: All About Tropical Rain Forests (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library) (Hardcover)

We have several books in this series, and my son loves them all. An enjoyable book for my 3 year old, and educational too.