Although Dog threatens to turn Cat into a "catball," a "catcoat," and a "catpie," it's clear both rambunctious pets are having fun. Minarik's simple patterned text and Siebel's uncluttered three-color illustrations are perfectly geared to beginning readers. Reissued as part of the sixtieth anniversary of the I Can Read series, this edition includes eight appended pages of the series' history and background on beloved series characters.

K-Gr 1-Langdo has created colorful, cheerful new illustrations for Minarik's Cat and Dog, originally published in 1960. The text seems a bit dated as Dog threatens to make a catball, a catcoat, and a catpie out of the feline, and Cat cautions the pup against playing in water and roaming the garden, but finally the two pets happily dig up bones together until they are called in for dinner. Today's emerging readers will find more fun and better use of language in Alyssa Satin Capucilli's "Biscuit" series (HarperCollins) and Mary Labatt's "Sam" books (Kids Can).-Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.