Quite silly and entertaining as well as a fun 'How to' book with what seems to be practical information on how to bathe a cat.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Bush in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (v. 62 no. 5 (January 2009) p. 189-90)
http://muse.jhu.edu.login.ezproxy.lib... ( )

Bad Kitty Gets a Bathby Nick Bruel is a funny manual-esque book about - What else? - giving a cat a bath. Most of us who have or have had a cat knows the mortal danger of this proposition, and yet we still attempt such folly. As Bruel points out in this second book about Bad Kitty, there are times when it is necessary to baptize our feline family members for their health and our scented pleasure.

When these times occur, you must be prepared. Be aware you put your life in peril, risking the chance of suffering extreme blood loss and soiled underwear.

After using bribery, begging and reverse psychology in a failed attempt to get Kitty into the tub, tell Kitty that you’ll be giving the dog a long, icy cold bath AFTER her. Her desire to watch Puppy suffer may help her to overcome her hatred of baths.

Without being mean-spirited or cruel, Bruel slides in facts about cats, such as their tongues are covered in papillae made from the same material as finger nails and facts about other cat species, making Bad Kitty Gets a Bath both entertaining and educational. It’s humorous pictures and funny content hides the fact it is a chapter book… the dreaded CHAPTER BOOK… and Maggie happily read it through. Her favorite part being the picture of Puff-Ball Kitty after she was dried.

Any time an author can teach while delighting young readers, especially those who balk at the bigger books, then the book is a success. And few things are funnier than the whole concept of bathing a cat, an animal with 20 daggers on its feet as well as needles in its mouth and toxic saliva that abhors the very mention of submersion and will shred you for thinking it let alone trying it.

I give Bad Kitty Gets a Bath by Nick Bruel 4 out of 5 stars. You don’t have to be a child to enjoy it, either. I’ve had it on my wishlist since it came out last year. Maggie told me that the book fair her school’s having this week was selling it, so I sent her with money this morning and read it (out loud to the kids, lest I look silly) immediately :-)

click for full review: http://thekoolaidmom.wordpress.com/20... ( )

Our favorite Bad Kitty is cat behavior incarnate here, from hiding/disappearing to post-bath fluffball. She only consents to being bathed upon hearing that the puppy will suffer a bath also--an agony she imagines with vengeful delight. Of course, the dog bath turns out to be a quick, happy squirt with the hose, and we're left once again with ba-a-d kitty face....Dead-on, funny stuff. ( )

This is a fun ABC book with a story threading it all together. There are lots of cute illustrations and funny ideas.