Cattails! Splat the Cat Dreams Big by Rob Scotton

SPLAT WAS A LUCKY CAT BECAUSE HE GOT TO HEAR STORIES EVERY NIGHT.

HIS FAVORITE BOOKS WERE ABOUT BRAVE CATS HAVING DARING ADVENTURES.

HE WISHED HE WERE THAT BRAVE!

But listening to daring adventures has its downside. As soon as Mom kisses him and closes the door, Splat starts to worry--about dreams in which he was not up to the job of being brave and daring. What if he can't save Princess Kitty from the evil King Spike in his dream tonight? What if there are monsters hiding in his room? Dad comes in to check the closet and under the bed and starts to laugh.

""JUST SOME DUST BUNNIES!" he chuckles.

Splat's nervous tail starts to quiver anxiously when he hears a strange noise. He calls Mom and pretends to be thirsty. She gives him a drink, tucks him in, and firmly tells him to go to sleep...NOW!

Sleep finally comes, and so does a dream of an evil King Spike, but this time Splat gets his chance to be the the Hero Cat in in this story of Rob Scotton's bedtime boy, Splat the Cat Dreams Big (Harper Festival, 2013). For kids worried about what their dreams may bring each night, this cat tale makes the point that good dreams and not-so-good dreams come to everyone, and some of them can be worth waiting for. Just right for early readers and bedtime resisters, Scat is the cat of the hour when sleepytime rolls around.

Pair this one with Scotton's wish-fulfillment tale, Splat the Cat: On with the Show (Harper Festival, 2013), in which Splat gets the chance to live his favorite dream of being the brave hero who rescues Princess Kitty in the school play--if he can just land the right part!