Cat and Dog in a Mess

When Cat and Dog play in the park, Dog gets into a mess. Cat tries to tidy him up, but ends up getting even messier! This funny story features the lively characters Cat and Dog and is written by Shoo Rayner, author of Red 2B Bot on the Moon.

This is a Red A/Band 2A book in the Collins Big Cat reading programme and is a simple story of fiction with a familiar setting for early readers. Character profiles on the final spread help children compare and contrast Cat and Dog. The focus phonemes in this book are e, s and c (ck). Other phonemes practised are a, t, i, n ,c, o, r, m, d, g, u, l, h ,f and b. Cat and Dog in a Mess is paired with the simple non-fiction recount about cats, Red 2A Pet Cat, Big Cat. This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader. More stories about Cat and Dog can be found in Collins Big Cat guided reading series.


Cat and Dog in a Mess is one of the top 10 books found to be ‘easiest’ to read – most accessible and appropriate for the reading level – in the 2019 What Kids are Reading report from Renaissance Learning. Other top 10 ‘easiest’ books to read from the report include Bad Bat (9780007412891), No, Sid, No! (9780007421923), Sam and the Nut (9780007334995), The Magic Egg (9780007329182), Best Bird (9780007412853), Get Fit (9780007421961) and Got It! (9780007421930).