I just had the pleasure of reviewing Julia Dweck’s new ebook Blucy (rhymes with Lucy), an adorable, bouncy rhyming book about an unusual cat with a secret.
Title: Blucy: The Blue Cat
Author: Julia Dweck
Illustrator: Erika LeBarre
Publisher: Xist Publishing, 2013
Theme: Cats, Pets
Ages: 4 to 7
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Summary:
Blucy, newly adopted from a cat shelter, has a mind of her own and refuses to eat the food her new owner, Mandy, tries to feed her. In a cat-like huff, Blucy takes off down the street! That’s when the hilarious adventures begin. Eventually Blucy is located and Mandy figures out how to appease this picky feline eater. Although Blucy is not quite the perfect cat Mandy was hoping for, she learns to love and accept her new friend exactly the way she is.
My Thoughts:
This 40-page book has the most gorgeous illustrations (Erika LeBarre) and will appeal to 4-7Cat year olds.
As a teacher, I immediately thought of quite a few great things I could do with this book:
1. Visit your local animal shelter and learn how you can help homeless cats and dogs. In years past the kids and I have donated to the SPCA with money we raised through various fund-raising activities at school.
2. Blucy is a natural for discussing empathy, kindness and acceptance towards both animals and people.
3. Blucy reminds me a lot of the book, Cookie’s Week, another story about a naughty cat. It would be fun to compare the two cats, perhaps with a Venn diagram.
4. Round up the rhymes. Read the book again and have the students identify the rhyming pairs. You could write the words out on cards, mix them up, place them in the pocket chart, then challenge your students to put them back into rhyming order. This is a great activity for repeated reading AND attending closely to the rhyming sounds, which can be very difficult for some children.
5. Make an illustrated list of all the blue food you can think of.
6. Compare the text to The Mixed-Up Chameleon, by Eric Carle, another animal with colour-changing abilities.
7. Whole class reading. Give pairs of children a page to master then read the entire book aloud with each pair reading their own page. Be sure to project the book onto your classroom screen.
8. Are you familiar with the poem “I Like Bugs” by Margaret Wise Brown? It’s an oldie but a goodie. You could change “bugs” to “blue” and write your own version.
9. Create some gorgeous oil pastel cats like the ones from Art Lessons for Kids.
Happy Reading!
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Sounds super cute! I'll have the check it out for sure :)Stop by my blog if you have the chance 🙂 I'm having a giveaway!Miss MThe Fabulous First Grade
I will! Thanks for stopping by.
Love the new design Barb! I love the books too! Sometimes I think I should just switch to primary because I LOVE the books written for that age. I LOVE teaching my older gifted students too though. I do a reading buddies program with the kindergarten teacher so that I can share the best of both worlds.Have a great day!Sidney
Sounds like a great book. Thanks for sharing your lesson ideas! 🙂 Karli Creating a Thoughtful Classroom
Thanks, Sidney! Primary is fabulous but I'm sure working with gifted students is very rewarding. Glad to hear you still get your little people fix:)
No problem. Glad you stopped by.
Thank you for reviewing Blucy and sharing your creative ideas that extend and enrich the learning for readers of various interests and learning styles. You truly are a ONEderful teacher! 🙂
Pinning your book pick as well. We have a misbehaving Lucy cat at our home, so my daughter will love this story. Thanks for all the class ideas as well.Have a great week.School Is a Happy Place