this story is about a cat and a mouse who are best friends. They always play checkers, but Cat begins to cheat and always beats Mouse. Mouse decides he doesn't want to play checkers with Cat, so he suggests another game. Cat gets mad at Mouse and kicks him out of his house. Cat becomes bored and sends an ad for a new friend to a local newspaper. Several characters come along to be his friend, but cat does not like their ways. They all like to do different things that are not fun to Cat. He begins to miss Mouse so he writes another ad, this time asking for mouse to come back. At the end Mouse goes back to Cat's house and they are friends again. The theme of the story is friendship. One must value a good friendship. There will be differences in opinions in a friendship, but that's no reason to unfriend a person. You never know what you have until you lose it.
This book is appropriate for ages 5-10. ( )

Cat and his friend, Mouse, play games together. Cat likes to play checkers because he always wins and when Mouse wants to play crazy eights, so he can have a chance to win, Cat doesn't oblige. Mouse refuses to play another game of checkers and the two stop being friends. Cat then tries to find a new best friend by sending out an add in the paper. A mole, otter, and raccoon try to be Cat's new friend, but they are not nearly as good of friends as Mouse. Cat asks Mouse to come back and they are once again friends. ( )

this is about a cat that wants to play a game his way or no way but then learns that he cannot replace his friend mouse. ( )

This book is about a cat and a mouse who are best friends until omne day the mouse wants to play crazy eights, but the cat doesn't. This ends their friendship and the cat puts out an ad for a new best friend. Every new potential friend he meets has different interests than cat does. Cat likes to play chess. The other animals rather sports, or their too untidy. So cat puts another ad in the paper for mouse to come back and he does. Thus their friendship is restored! Hallelujah! This book teaches kids that friends will have different wants and interest and to maintain a great friendship, you have to compromise. You can't always do things that you want to do, you have to compromise and do what your friend enjoys also. It's a great lesson about friendships and young kids can really benefit from the lesson in this book. ( )

Age Appropriateness: Primary
Genre: Fantasy
Critique: Like many children's books, this one is a fantasy because the main characters are animals playing and acting just like people. For example, they play checkers and skateboard. Cat, the main character, is dynamic because he realizes that he shouldn't take his best friend for granted. ( )