By Nancy King
My daughter and I just read Love, Splat. Love, Splat, a story about the highs and lows of a first crushbetween cats. Written by Rob Scotton, author of Russell the Sheep, the book had me at “Splat,” the first word and also the name of the main character. Splat is worried, anxious, and awkwardly romanticme, in feline formand hes only got eyes for Kitten, the snowy white cat in his class who always pulls his ears, pokes his belly, calls him smelly, and then runs away. Ah, young love. I won’t tell you what happens, but like the greatest of Shakespeares heroes, Splat goes paw to paw with a rival (Spike), depends on his loyal sidekick (Seymour), and is given to moments of great eloquence (“I like you,” he confesses to Kitten). This is a story for anyone whos fallen hardsplatand is willing to risk it all to get even more in return.
Stuck in a doctor’s waiting room, my daughter and I devoured How to Talk to Girls, and I kept thinking, If only Splat had read this I understand that the books nine-year-old author, Alec Greven, is already a mini-celebrity, having appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and CNN. And his book is already a New York Times bestseller. No wonder: this kids got great tips and insights for any boy who needs help getting the girl. Divided into seven short chapters that cover everything from The Facts of LifeSometimes, you get a girl to like you, then she ditches you. Life is hard, move on!to Theres a Girl for Every BoyGo for a talkative girl if you are shy. Then you only have to say one sentence, and she will do the rest of the talking. Heres one of my favorite bits of wisdom: You have to be aware that girls win most of the arguments and have most of the power. If you know that now, things might be easier. My husbands got a lot to learn from this fourth grader. And he provided my daughter with the following advice about a particular type of boy, namely the class clown: Class clowns never make a living and they never make a good love story with a girl, if you catch my drift. Had I offered her the same advice, she probably would have rejected it out of handthe Mommy effectbut the unassailable authority of the printed page carries a lot of weight with her. Thanks, Alec, I owe you one.
Details:
Love, Splat by Rob Scotton $18.50
HarperCollins Publishers
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
How to Talk to Girls by Alec Greven
$10.99 Collins
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
