Bad Kitty Meets the Baby

I read this aloud with my second grade son. (He actually read most of it to me!) This book really held our attention. It's a beginning chapter book with lots of great illustrations. When Bad Kitty's family comes home with a new addition, Bad Kitty has to figure out "What the heck is that thing?"

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(which is actually the title of chapter 2). It takes most of the book, but in the end, Bad Kitty comes to appreciate the new baby. And together they are quite a hilarious pair. We laughed out loud, and then quickly ordered three more Bad Kitty books from the latest Scholastic Book Order.

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Bad Kitty has never been worse and children will love her even more for it. Life is lousy enough for Kitty when a new “dog” joins the family, or maybe it’s a cat… or a taco. Anyways, as the “thing” laps up all the attention that Kitty craves, Uncle Murray and Bad Kitty’s friends are

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back to help Kitty adjust to the new intruder and maybe even figure out what she is. Full of hysterical asides and witty comments, children in Kindergarten through third grade may find the reading level a bit challenging, but Bruel’s comic illustrations can almost carry the story on their own. Each character’s highly defined traits are clearly conveyed through sidesplitting expressions, both visually and verbally. Children will laugh out loud as the follow the tale of Kitty’s ultimate surrender. Parents might consider this graphic novel a clever means of developing a child’s acceptance of their own new family member. A story that is fun for all ages, the reader will find out that Bad Kitty really isn’t that bad after all.

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This hysterical graphic novel about a sassy cat will definitely grab the attention of even the most reluctant readers. I read this out loud to my seven year old son and we were both laughing until we had tears in our eyes.

This book was nothing like I expected it to me. It really amazed me how funny and emotional it was. The part where they told kitty and the dog that the baby was adopted like them and how accepting they were was a really good point in the book. I just expected this witty story about a cat not liking

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everyone they bring into the house. It was truly an easy enjoyable reader.

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Bad Kitty Meets the Baby by Nick Bruel is the sixth Bad Kitty book (and the fourth hybrid graphic novel). The book opens with a recap of the previous "injustices" to Kitty's otherwise good life: the puppy and Uncle Murray's visit. Now the reason for Murray's visit is explained: Bad Kitty's humans

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were traveling to adopt a baby.

The adoption isn't played up in the book but it does blend well with the overall theme of home and family being what you make of it. Before, Bad Kitty, though, can make that realization, she has to come to terms with this loud, smelly, strange looking interloper.

The neighborhood cats come to rescue to help Bad Kitty figure out what exactly a baby is. They do this by hosting the Kitty Olympics and inviting the baby to participate.

Like the other graphic novels in the series, Bad Kitty Meets the Baby has explanatory sections on cat and baby behavior. The book would be appropriate for any family expecting a new child or trying to introduce cats to young children.

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Kristy Pratt
2/1/15
Reading Log Opinion Response for Bad Kitty Meets the Baby
I had mixed feelings about the book, Bad Kitty Meets the Baby, after I read it. I liked this chapter book for a couple of reasons. First, it was filled with clever and funny narration and situations. For example, Kitty’s

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family went away and Uncle Murray came to housesit and pet sit for Kitty. While there, Kitty wreaks havoc and Uncle Murray has to call the Fire Department every day that he is there because someone or something is stuck in the tree. On day four, he calls and says, “Hello, Fire Department? Hi. You’re not going to believe this, but this time I’m the one stuck in the tree. It’s kind of a funny story. You see…Hello? Hello?” Situations like this one occur throughout the book and are pretty amusing. Another reason I enjoyed this book was because of the “Uncle Murray’s Fun Facts” that were presented every couple of chapters. In these two page spreads, real facts about cats are explained in a playful way. This allowed the reader to learn interesting facts without being bored and wanting to skip past these pages. The third reason I enjoyed this book was the way the author told the story through an animal’s point-of-view. The reader was able to experience how a cat perceives a new dog, a new baby and other everyday encounters, which was the main idea of the story. After Kitty is finally getting used to a new dog being in the house, another new member of the family is introduced. Kitty thinks it is a weird looking dog or cat and when the neighborhood cats are invited over to meet the new “animal”, they enter it in the Kitty Olympics and in the end realizes that it is a baby. Kitty then also learns to like the adopted baby and accepts him and the dog as part of the family. The book uses these situations to give human-like characteristics to Kitty.
Although this was a cute book that held my interest and made me laugh, there were several aspects that I did not like. One, the layout of the book was confusing. I realized about half-way through the story that it was set-up like a comic strip, but with each section being a page. This was not obvious at first and was a little hard to correctly follow along. Also, at the bottom of many pages were incomplete and grammatically incorrect sentences or “thoughts” of some of the characters. These were printed in dark grey on a light grey background, with text that was very small and hard to read. I actually did not even notice it until I was half way through the book and ended up having to go back to the beginning and read the pages that I had missed. Finally, the third aspect of this book that I did not like, was the way the narrator switched between several characters without warning and made it difficult to comprehend who was talking. I had to study the pictures to understand who was narrating at certain points. I believe this would be even more difficult for a child to correctly comprehend.

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Bad kitty is not pleased when a baby joins her family. Chapter book #4

Not my favorite volume, mostly because I'm not fond of children, especially the younger ones lol I don't know if the following counts as a spoiler but just to be safe - POSSIBLE SPOILERS ahead!

At first, I was so confused by the story. The family had gone away for a week, which I don't think it

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takes that long to have a baby? I'm not sure, but it seems a bit long. Plus, the child is a young toddler, not a newborn! I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that it took until after the catlympics concluded before my mind considered adoption as a factor, which proved to be the case just a couple pages after my thought! It was a small thing but made me feel special haha

Hungry kitty is now my favorite because she kee0s bringing up tacos and I LOVE tacos. I also learned a new word - "caterwauling" which means to make a shrill howling noise like that of a cat!

Finally, at the back of the book, there's two pages about training your cat to follow commands. I know this to be possible because my cat, Mittens, may she rest in peace, was a very smart cat and I didn't even have to train her - she learned to sit on command on her own! I've always been so proud of her :')

Overall, not my favorite volume, but it wasn't a terrible read, either.

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