"A Discord Is Not a Missed Chord": Splat the Cat Sings Flat by Rob Scotton

ONE MORNING SPLAT'S TEACHER HAD BIG NEWS.

"ALL OF YOU WILL SING ON PARENT'S NIGHT," MRS. WIMPYDIMPLE SAID.

"IF YOU SING LOUD YOUR PARENTS WILL BE PROUD!"

Splat is suddenly overwhelmed with stage fright. Sing out loud? Right in front of everyone's parents? Splat is frozen with shyness. As Mrs. W. leads everyone through a solo "la-la-la" to warm up, not a sound comes out of his throat.

But his best friend, Seymour the mouse, who rides inside Splat's hat to school with him every day, bucks him up, pointing out that if a mouse can be brave enougb to come to school with a class of cats, Splat can surely learn to la-la along with them.

So Splat screws up his courage, and after a squeaky try, finally manages to vocalize:

"LA!" SANG SPLAT.

THE NOTE WAS LOUD. THE NOTE WAS LONG.

AND IT WAS VERY, VERY FLAT.

The other little singers are cracked up by Splat's off-key solo, but Mrs. Wimpledimple is a teacher who knows how to work with each student's. er, special talents. And she figures out a way to put even Splat's out-of-tune offering to good use, and on the night of the big performance, a star is born!

"LA-A-A-A!" SANG SPLAT.

ALL THE PARENTS LAUGHED, AND SPLAT LAUGHED LOUDEST OF ALL!

"YOU WERE THE STAR!" SAID HIS MOM AFTERWARD.

Rob Scotton's latest entry into the venerable Harper I Can Read series, Splat the Cat: Splat the Cat Sings Flat (I Can Read Book 1) (Harper, 2011) humorously takes the emergent reader through yet another milestone of first grade, the public performance, in his usual sure-footed style. Splat's nervous tail twitches tell all, as Scotton's comic illustrations register Splat's tensions to a T. This inexpensive and funny little book is sure to become another first-grade early reader staple.