Product Description

Having to share a room with a brother or sister can make for hard feelings, and the siblings in this hilarious book are grumpy about their crowded room. At least it seems crowded until Green Cat shows up. He’s going to show us what a really crowded room can look like. By the time he piles in everything from a toaster to a giraffe, the amazed siblings are ready to admit that sharing a room is not so bad after all.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #563107 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-19
• Released on: 2002-02-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 24 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this posthumous publication from Khalsa (The Snow Cat), a giant green cat takes the role traditionally played by a rabbi in the classic folktale of a family that complains of too little space. Here, two siblings say their room is "too small. `I want more space!' each one would shout, And try to toss the other out, into the drafty hall." Every page, save the penultimate, affords the same symmetrical view of a squarish bedroom, a central doorway and twin beds placed foot-to-foot. Green Cat, a teddy-bearish, Gumby-colored fellow, changes their minds. Bit by bit, the cat delivers nonsense items like "A rowboat, a rainbow, A little red calf, Then, just for a laugh, He brought a giraffe." According to the text, the place fills to capacity and gives the children a renewed appreciation for breathing room. But in the pictures, the elevated vantage point and Lilliputian characters (the cat is about an inch tall, the children even smaller) create an illusion of airiness, despite the cacophony of colors. Soupy-green backgrounds dominate the tiny white print and lend a leaden heaviness to the endeavor. Unfortunately, the static layout and undersize artwork nullify any liveliness in this tale. Ages 5-8.

From School Library Journal
reSchool-K-Published posthumously, this contemporary story echoes the traditional theme of Margot Zemach's It Could Always Be Worse (Farrar, 1990), Ann McGovern's Too Much Noise (Houghton, 1967), and Joanna Cole's It's Too Noisy (Crowell, 1989; o.p.), all of which are more artfully told and illustrated. Tom and Lynn share a huge bedroom with nothing in it but two beds and still they want more space. Suddenly a tall green cat appears and begins to add a motley collection of things, such as animals, a little Leaning Tower of Pisa, confetti, a table and chairs, until the room is cluttered and chaotic. Finally, the children, sitting on a haybale in the corner, mutter, "We-need-more-room!" In a flat ending, when the cat removes everything, the siblings think that the room is too empty and bring back four kitchen chairs. The rhyme scheme is unusual and the rhythm varies from page to page, making it difficult for young listeners to predict text. The busy paintings are best viewed close-up, thus rewarding readers with small details such as the ever-changing positions of nine cats. For those libraries with followers of Khalsa, the much-beloved artist author of such favorites as When Pizza Came to Queens (Potter, 1989; o.p.) and I Want a Dog (Tundra, 1987), this offering rounds out the collection well enough and compares interestingly with folktale versions of the story.
Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 3-5. Tom and his sister Lynn share a bedroom, and agree on one thing--it's too crowded. Into their room (and their argument) comes a man-size green cat who has an idea. When he hears the kids like toast, he brings in a toaster. But then he hauls in chairs and a poster. Before long he's bringing in plates, silverware, a bale of hay, napping cats, and six geese in party hats. By the time he adds spaghetti and confetti, Tom and Lynn are feeling really crowded. So the green cat begins taking items out, and then the siblings are surprised to see just how spacious their room is. Khalsa, a wonderful artist who died in 1989, left this manuscript. The rhyming text is not always perfect, but the pictures are. Framed with green borders, each picture is like a stage setting. Kids will adore watching Tom and Lynn's room fill up with all manner of strange and marvelous things, and then see it empty out again. All this excitement, plus a Gumby-like feline mastermind! Khalsa is missed. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A memorable storybook lesson about sharing
Written and illustrated by Dayal Kaur Khalsa, Green Cat is a vividly colored picturebook featuring brightly colored, eye-catching artwork in a simplistic yet powerful modern style. The Story is about a brother and a sister who quarrel over having to share a room. Each thinks that the room is too crowded - until the Green Cat comes and shows them how crowded a room can really be! Enthusiastically recommended for family, school, and community library picturebook collections, Green Cat is an entertaining and memorable storybook lesson about sharing.

Wonderful Book For Young Children
My five year old and I really enjoyed this book. It's a clever lesson in sharing. Not only is this nicely illustrated, but the words are easy enough for beginning readers. We've also liked this author's other books.