Review by Booklist Review
K-Gr. 2. Ostensibly about a cat that turns bad when her family runs out of her favorite food, this is really a clever alphabet book for kids old enough to appreciate the way words work. When a calm kitty overhears her owner say that healthy food is now on the menu, the high-energy artwork shows the cat in paroxysms of horror set against a series of blocks containing pictures of vegetables, alphabetically arranged from asparagus to zucchini. That's when Kitty decides to become Bad Kitty: she ate my homework . . . hurled hair balls at our heads. Kitty changes again after her owner returns with an A-Z assortment of good, if peculiar, treats, some of which may give readers pause (a donkey named Dave). But Kitty is happy with them all, and to show her pleasure, she undoes all her bad actions--in alphabetical order. The cat, with seemingly dozens of expressions, is the star, but other aspects of the amusingly silly illustrations have equal weight. There's so much going on here that kids will find lots to laugh about. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2005 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bruel's picture book-which is included with the audiobook-cycles through the alphabet four times, telling the story of an angry cat exacting revenge on her owners for feeding her vegetables. This audio version works well when paired with the print edition-without it, children might be confused why a word like "rhUbarb" is listed under U instead of under R. Included are three audio versions of the book: the first is narrated by Vanessa Williams; the second is essentially the same recording as the first, with children prompted to follow along and turn the page at the sound of a cat's meow; and the third is a live recording of Bruel reading to a class of children. Williams proves to be an expressive, enthusiastic, and polished narrator, while Bruel's reading is much livelier, but lacks the musical accompaniment, sound quality, and production values of the studio recording. It's clear that Bruel enjoys reading to children as he occasionally breaks from the book to explain something they might not know: "Zinnias," he says, "for all you city folks, is a type of flower." Ages 4-8. A Square Fish paperback. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Bad Kitty doesn't necessarily want to be a nuisance, but she is left no choice when her owner offers her nothing to eat but boring healthy produce-from the fairly tame asparagus to the exotic-sounding xigua. After this abecedarian treatment of various fruits and vegetables (all of which Bad Kitty hates), she goes on to wreak havoc, from she "ate my homework" down the alphabet to she "zeroed in on the zinnias." When her owner brings her foods she likes (from "an assortment of anchovies" to "baked zebra ziti"), Bad Kitty shapes up and does an alphabet's worth of good deeds-apologized to Grandma, etc. To reward her exceptional behavior, her owner brings her a new playmate: a puppy who will-gasp!-share her food. Needless to say, this turn of events ensures that Bad Kitty will continue to live up to her name. Author/illustrator Nick Bruel's humorous comic book-style illustrations (Roaring Brook, 2005) are spot-on for his cantankerous yet lovable cat. Vanessa Williams's expressive, spirited narration is the perfect fit for Bad Kitty's naughty (yet relatively harmless) shenanigans. Page-turn signals are optional. This humorous alphabet book is a fun listen.-Amy Holland, Irondequoit Public Library, Evans Branch, NY (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A good kitty goes bad when offered an alphabetic assortment of vegetables (asparagus to zucchini). How bad? ""She...Ate my homework / Bit Grandma..."" and finally ""Zeroed the zinnias."" But when she's fed properly (anchovies through zebra ziti), ""she...Apologized to Grandma / Bought me new toys...."" Bruel's energetic illustrations, which delight in this kitty's A-to-Z mood swings, ratchet up the humor. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
She may be a "bad bad BAD Kitty," but she's the star of an alphabet book that should be in every collection. This poor, black kitty only became bad when her family ran out of kitty-appropriate food. She was going to be forced to eat an alphabet of healthy foods, asparagus to zucchini. So she perpetrates an alphabet of badness, from "Ate my homework" to "Zeroing the zinnias." Then her loving family returns from the grocery with an alphabet of great kitty food, anchovies to zebra ziti--some of it silly, but she's excited enough to reform and perform an alphabet of gracious actions, from apologizing to a nipped grandma to lulling a baby into a "zzz"-ful sleep. Kitty gets a present too, her just deserts (a puppy to play with). Bruel's little black star is perhaps the hammiest, most expressive feline ever captured in watercolors. The quarter-page illustrations for all the letters in all four alphabets are littered with little (and big) laughs. Even the alphabet-experienced will love this bad, bad kitty! (Picture book. 3-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
