What Do You Think About Bad Kitty?

September Book Review of Bad Kitty

I have always been intrigued by the book series Bad Kitty.  I admit, I didn't think the title looked too appealing or indicated the type of book I would want to recommend to kids to read.  However, as a 3rd grade teacher, it was one that would circulate around the classroom.  And like most teachers, when you see a lot of students in your classroom enjoying a certain type of book or series, you tend to add a few to your personal library collection.  I must confess, until this week, I had never read one.  Sure I flipped through the pages to ease my curiosity.  I could easily see why it appealed to younger readers.  Lots of pictures, cartoon like drawings, some pages had very few words.  Although books can be 100+ pages, it would read very quickly.  Plus there are several titles in the series which kids enjoy too.

So the other day, my twin daughters, who will be celebrating a birthday at the end of the month (5!), told me we should go to the book store, it didn't take much more convincing than that to get me to walk in the store.  I am a huge book lover at heart.  Barnes and Nobles is my sanctuary!  Rarely do I or any other member of the family leave the store without a book in the bag...or 2, or 3.  My love for books has spilled over to the girls and now this is a favorite activity of ours to do together.  Dad wasn't along so we had, perhaps, too much fun together.  The girls were busy looking and picking out books and I was browsing the kids section for a new book we could read together before bedtime.  We often times like to read a chapter books.  This summer we finished Appleblossom the Possum which was a big hit!  There was a gentleman who came over to ask me if I needed any help.  I told him what we were looking for.  He looked at the girls and immediately directed us to Bad Kitty.  I was very hesitant, but he did his job and convinced me that I should get Bad Kitty.  He said it is popular in his house with his own children.  Kind of a silly book, he said, but it does a great job of telling you fun or crazy facts about cats throughout the book.  

So with Happy Birthday Bad Kitty in hand, along with several other, I will not say how many, books, we went on our way excited about our new book treasurers.  Of course several of the books were birthday books.  (wink, wink).  So this week, I read the book.  It took me two days, but easily could have finished it in one or about an hour.  So what do I think?  It's not bad!  I did find myself chuckling and learning a few things about cats.  I can see why this series is appealing to students in about 2nd-4th grade.  The books says appropriate for ages 7-10.  So tonight at bedtime, the girls and I began Bad Kitty.  Kitty sleeps a lot (16 hours a day) and his owner is preparing him for his birthday.  Kitty doesn't care...he just wants to sleep and ignore the world.  However, Kitty gets intrigued by the mention of food and presents.  His cat friends come over to celebrate and a dog, which the cats try to use as a pinata for the party.  By the end Kitty has wrecked the party, chased off all his friends, and goes back to bed.  There are many other funny details to the book, but if you are like me and haven't read a Bad Kitty book, I don't want to spoil all the fun.

Would I recommend it?  Yes I would.  I might even pick up another one in the series to see how it compares.  I am confident the twins will enjoy it because for them at their age it is the complete package: pictures, big words, about animals, and easy to read.  If you have read a Bad Kitty book, let me know what you thought about it.  I would love to know!