Kids' Picks: Bad Kitty and Poor Puppy

Last week Children's Classics had a "dog" theme. During the brainstorming process, I kept thinking about the following books. They were written in 2005 & 2007, so they can't be considered classics. However, they definitely fall under the Kids' Picks category in our home!

Author and illustrator: Nick Bruel
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan)

Bad Kitty is the story of a cat who flips out when his owner runs out of the usual cat food and Kitty must eat healthy food. Upon receiving this news and seeing the assortment of vegetables, Kitty goes on a rampage. Once his owner is able to properly restock the pantry, Kitty is in heaven again, and becomes "Good Kitty" long enough to fix all the things he did wrong. The story line is hysterical, the illustrations are colorful and descriptive, and Bruel finds a way to get through the alphabet 4 times!

1. Healthy Food: Asparagus, Beets, Cauliflower, Dill...and 22 other equally unappealing vegetables.
   
2. So she: Ate my homework, Bit grandma, Clawed the curtains, Damaged the dishes, and so on.
   
3. Tastier things arrive: An Assortment of Anchovies, Buffalo Burritos, Chicken Cheesecake...
4. Restoration: Apologize to Grandma, Bought me new Toys, Cleaned her Cat box....down to Z.

Kitty is so good that at the end of the book she is rewarded with a "new friend", Puppy. Needless to say, Puppy enjoys Kitty's company much more than the reverse! "Kitty doesn't want to play with him. Poor Puppy."

So puppy has to...

• Play by himself: 1 Airplane, 2 Balls, 3 Cars...all the way to 26 Zoo Animals
• Dream about playing with Kitty: Apple Bobbing in Antarctica, Baseball in Brazil, Checkers in Canada (Timothy loves all the different countries)
  

In Poor Puppy, there is a sub-plot with a toy mouse that your child can find in every illustration starting with "15 Old Cat Toys He Found Under the Sofa". So clever! We have the paperback versions, but there are also hardback, and even this cute "Cat Nipped Edition".

This sequel to Bad Kitty came out last year...

Bad Kitty Gets a Bath came out in 2008, and we haven't read that one yet. Bruel decided to make it a low-level chapter book so that this series is growing along with its readers. We bought these when Timothy was 3, and he has gone from enjoying the silliness to reading them himself. He will love this new book that puts him in the reading "driver's seat".

Click here for a detailed description of it, along with some excerpts.
Click here for an interview with the author about this book.

For more Kids' Picks, head over to 5 Minutes for Books.