Bad Kitty Goes to the Vet

It's often a challenge getting one of my cats to the vet (a broken lamp springs to mind) so it's easy to sympathize with Bad Kitty's owner in the latest addition to the Bad Kitty canon. Feeling under the weather, Kitty has been refusing her kibble, a sure sign of feline distress. Her strength rebounds, however, when it's time for her to go into her carrier. As always, Bruel has a sure hand with slapstick and readers will howl as Kitty and her owner battle it out. At last she's inside and it's off to the vet.

In perhaps one of the more unusual plot advances in a chapter book, Kitty is sedated to have a tooth extracted and travels to the cat version of the Pearly Gates. Refused entrance because of her past misdeeds to poor Puppy, Kitty is given 24 hours to redeem herself. All she has to do is perform one act of unconditional kindness to Puppy. This proves harder than expected and it comes down to the final seconds. Will Kitty gain admittance to Pussycat Paradise or will she land in Puppydog Paradise and be chased and bitten for all eternity? Or is her predicament just a dream?

Bruel keeps the action rolling and Kitty's fate up in the air till the end. Along with providing a rip roaring story, the book has several of Uncle Murray's fun fact sheets, which give tips such as how to tell if your cat is sick and explains what vets are and what they do.

Bad Kitty Goes to the Vet
by Nick Bruel
Roaring Book Press  144 pages
Published: January, 2016

Bad Kitty: School Daze

Bad Kitty's back and she's badder than ever, if that's possible. This time she's off to school to deal with her behavior problems. Puppy goes along to get his drooling under control. What I like best about these graphic easy-to-read novels are the zany details and the way things never turn out the expected way. For instance, before Kitty heads off for her first day, her family presents her with a complete line of Love Love Angel Kitten school supplies, including backpack, notebook, eraser, calculator, bowling ball, cinder block, and tractor tire--with spot illustrations of each one. Clearly a spoof on the Hello Kitty craze, the items point up how much Bad Kitty is the antithesis of all that saccharine goodness.

When the school bus finally pulls up to the Diabla Von Gloom's School for Wayward Pets, the building is a stereotypical Addams house of horrors. The next spread shows the door creaking open and the shadow of a monstrous crone with sharp fangs and long talons. Turn the page and the shadow is an illusion formed by a young, attractive teacher holding an assortment of books, boxes, and pencils.

The kindly teacher is determined to get Bad Kitty to reveal what she's so angry about, but the cat's a tough cookie and won't crack. Besides she has more pressing problems--like a scary bulldog who hates cats. Luckily Bad Kitty has managed to convince Petunia that she's a cow.

As always, Uncle Murray checks in with his Fun Facts spreads. This time around the topic centers on why dogs and cats don't get along.

Graduation takes place at the end of the first day--it's a very short semester--and each animal student has to demonstrate what he or she has learned. Will Bad Kitty carry away a diploma? Don't bet on it, but an amusing epilogue suggests that school wasn't so awful after all.

Bad Kitty: School Daze
by Nick Bruel
Roaring Book Press, 160 pages
Published: January 2013

Bad Kitty for President

A candidate from the Right Side of the Street who:

Wants to throw those without homes into a volcano
Tries to buy votes (with a dead fish)
Goes ballistic on the opposing candidate
Uses a 527 Group to run attack ads
Refuses to debate on the issues

No, faithful readers, the candidate is not Newt Gingrich. It's Bad Kitty. Nick Bruel's feisty feline is back and this time she's running for office. After years of faithful service, Old Kitty is giving up his position as the President of the Neighborhood Cat Club. Bad Kitty is motivated to run for his position when stray cats from another area wander into her domain. Instead of erecting a giant fence to keep them out, Bad Kitty wants to toss the freeloaders into an active volcano.

The book's seven chapters are broken down into the steps of the electoral process, from the primaries to the results. Along the way, Bad Kitty does her best to upend the proceedings as she seeks endorsements, goes on the campaign trail, takes on the media, and debates her opponent, Big Kitty. When election day rolls around, the results are surprising, but satisfying. As Bruel tells Bad Kitty, "Democracy makes sure that EVERYONE has a chance to participate, that EVERYONE has a chance to win, and that EVERYONE has a chance to someday become the leader of his or her community." Let's hope he's right.

Once again, Bruel delivers a laugh-aloud chapter book that kids are sure to love. Besides telling a good story, the book provides a lot of factual information that goes down easy. For the most part, kids won't realize that they're learning a lot about the electoral process. The exceptions are the two Fun Facts spreads. Although Uncle Murray (Bad Kitty's backer) attempts to enliven things up, the presentation is a little heavy handed, especially for kids in the primary grades. Still, the story itself does an excellent job of showing how the system works. Bad Kitty for President gets my vote!

Here's GalleyCat's interview with Nick Bruel, along with a trailer for Bad Kitty for President.

Bad Kitty for President
by Nick Bruel
Roaring Brook Press, 144 pages
Published: January 2012

Bad Kitty Meets the Baby

Nick Bruel's Bad Kitty books just keep getting funnier. His latest is a howl and is sure to go over big with the elementary school crowd. Bad Kitty has been through a lot in this series. She's suffered through a bath, her birthday, and living with Puppy. In the last book, she endured the care of Uncle Murray, the pet sitter. But nothing, I repeat, nothing has prepared her for the arrival of Baby. When Bad Kitty's owners bring home their newly adopted daughter and plunk her down beside the terrified feline, Bad Kitty can't fathom what this strange creature might be. She ultimately decides the drooling, smelly, noisy creature must be a dog.

The neighborhood cats disagree. They're convinced Baby is actually a cat and hold the Pussycat Olympics to celebrate her arrival. The cats compete in the STARE-AT-YOURSELF-IN-A-MIRROR-UNTIL-YOU-GET-BORED competition, the BABBLING-ON-AND-ON-WITHOUT-STOPPING event, the WHO-CAN-CREATE-THE-BIGGEST-STINK event, and THE-EATING-CONTEST. Baby is the undisputed champion in all four, causing Bad Kitty to have a fit of epic proportions. What will it take for Bad Kitty to accept her new nemesis?

Bruel's maniacal black-and-white illustrations go hand-in-hand with the text's wackiness, adding extra bits of fun to compliment the story. Uncle Murray's Fun Facts return and readers (including this one) will learn why cats are experts at climbing trees but not getting back down , as well as some hints on how to teach a cat tricks. Good luck with that one. The only trick my two cats have learned is to come at the sound of a cat food can popping open.

Bad Kitty Meets the Baby is the best in the series, in my humble opinion. Can't wait to see what Bad Kitty's next adventure will be.

Bad Kitty Meets the Baby
by Nick Bruel
Roaring Brook Press, 144 pages
Published: June 2011

Bad Kitty vs Uncle Murray: The Uproar at the Front Door

Bad Kitty is in the middle of a wonderful dream about Pussycat Paradise, where everything is made out of food, when she awakens to a nightmare. Her owners skedaddled off on a trip, leaving her and Puppy with Uncle Murray as their pet sitter. Puppy accepts the new status quo, but not Bad Kitty. Readers of Nick Bruel's two previous beginning chapter books starring Bad Kitty (Bad Kitty Gets a Bath and Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty) will guess (correctly) that this situation can not end well.

The Bad Kitty books are a favorite with my six-year-old nephew and I can see why. From the opening page the book takes young readers on an antic, fun-filled roller coaster of a ride. Bad Kitty, maniac and fearful, sees Uncle Murray as her arch enemy, although he clearly isn't. The cartoony illustrations provide many sight gags, as when Uncle Murray  sits on Kitty, mistaking her for a pillow, or tries to use her as a dish towel. Kitty becomes more and more frantic with each misstep, but the final straw is when Uncle Murray gets out the vacuum cleaner. Kitty flies out the door and a wild chase ensues before Kitty is safely back home. By book's end she and Uncle Murray have agreed to an uneasy truce.

Interspersed within the seven chapters are Uncle Murray's Fun Facts, which explain why felines are so fearful and cautious by nature. The facts are both accurate and entertaining, and they help readers understand why Bad Kitty freaks out the way she does. The book also has an appendix of phobias, many of which afflict Bad Kitty, such as peladophobia, fear of bald people. (Uncle Murray is sparse of hair.)

My fear? That Nick Bruel will stop writing books about Bad Kitty.