ALA Booklist

Five brightly dressed mice walk through a snowy landscape to the pale blue ice, where they skate around, leaving white lines that form the head of a cat. A friendly red cat joins them, and they all happily skate around on the ice. Designed for beginning readers, this vividly illustrated tale features a few simple words on each double-page spread and a good number of rhymes, such as "the cat with a hat skates with mice on ice." As the text of the brief story concludes, "nice!" Cheerful artwork in the Emberleys' signature style brings the text to life. Created with cut paper and digital elements, the characters stand out brilliantly against the plain backgrounds. With the large format of a picture book, this volume from the I Like to Read series would suit beginning readers and toddlers equally well, as both will appreciate the short text, simple vocabulary, and vibrant artwork.

Horn Book

Mice dressed in bright winter gear skate patterns on ice. But wait--what do those patterns and lines create? A "cat with a hat skates with mice on ice. / Nice!" Colorful jagged-edged digital and cut-paper illustrations expand the very simple rhymes to make a lively story that is both delightful to look at and to read aloud.

Kirkus Reviews

The latest collaboration from the father-and-daughter team is nice indeed. Beginning with its title, this very beginning reader employs a controlled, rhyming text to tell the story of mice who strap on ice skates and joyfully glide across the ice. Bright, colorful cut-paper and digital illustrations adopt a perspective that enables readers to see the increasingly intricate tracings left on the ice by the skates. Then, three successive pages read, "Someone is waiting. / What is this? / What is that?" and careful readers will see that the marks of the tracings have come together to look like the outline of a cat's face. Rather inexplicably, the page turn then reveals a cat in full color, accompanied by the words, "That is a cat." Ensuing pages show the cat merrily skating along with the mice, who don't seem to be the least bit afraid. "The cat with a hat skates with mice on ice. / Nice!" read the concluding lines, putting a cheery, if not particularly exciting, end to the book. An accessible, inviting title for brand new readers. (Picture book/early reader. 4-6)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

The father-daughter duo whose wordplay and bold geometric splashes of color have given a fresh and funny spin to such favorite folktales as Chicken Little and The Red Hen, brings stylistic verve to a second mouse-centric entry in the I Like to Read guided reader series, following The Lion and the Mice. Bundled in bright winter gear, a group of rodents with kaleidoscope-like eyes straps on skates and takes to gliding on the local pond. Soon the curves and loops they-ve etched in the pale blue ice form the outline of a cat that comes to life and joins in the skating. This fantastical turn of events (not to mention lucky, considering the typical cat-mouse relationship) gives a dramatic spark to the clipped text: -What is that?/ That is a cat./ That is a cat with a hat./ The cat with a hat skates with mice on ice./ Nice!- The stocking-capped crew-all with crisp whiskers and unfurling tails-makes for an exuberant tableau against a dark sky dotted with snowflakes in scenes created digitally and with cut paper. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2 -This very simple story is filled with rhyming and sight words perfectly suited to children just starting to read on their own. A group of colorful mice discovers an ice rink and have fun swirling and whirling around. The little creatures take a break from their skating and look down to see the pattern their skates have made and realize that it looks like a cat. The feline comes to life, filled with color, and joins the mice in their skating adventure. The illustrations, in the trademark style of the Emberleys, are vibrant, geometric, and playful. Each spread has bright pictures and one line of text. This layout highlights the simple words as well as the art, which makes this book a good hybrid of a traditional easy reader and a picture book. A charming choice for winter sharing. Lora Van Marel, Orland Park Public Library, IL