By Nick Bruel
There's no cat food left, so Kitty turns bad in alphabetical order.
There's no cat food in the house, so Kitty gets offered vegetables instead: asparagus, beets, cauliflower, dill, right through zucchini. She refuses. Then she turns bad, and she does it alphabetically, starting with Ate my homework and Bit grandma, on through Clawed the curtains, Damaged the dishes, and twenty-two more, each one worse than the one before. When the good food finally shows up, an alphabet of anchovies and buffalo burritos, Kitty turns good again and works back through the letters, apologizing to grandma and cleaning up her mess. That's four full alphabets and one very loud cat.
If you've lived with a cat, you know the exact look one gets right before it does something unforgivable, and Bruel nails it: bulging eyes, jagged teeth, total commitment. A child who loves cats may spot their own in her right away. A child who's been avoiding books might pick this one up, because it's basically a rant with pictures. The alphabet gives it a rhythm that carries you along, and since your child already knows what letter comes next, they can guess ahead and enjoy how much ruder Bruel's version is than theirs. It reads more like a comedian's set than a picture book. It's also the start of a long series, and the later Bad Kitty books are actual chapter books, so if this one goes over well you've got a shelf's worth waiting.