Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty (paperback black-and-white edition)

If you have ever had pets you will appreciate the humor of this book. Truly laugh out loud funny. This book has become such a favorite at our house that we had to buy 2!

My seven year old got this book through a school book order today and she literally ran into the house to read it! She sat and giggled and kept running up to show me the illustrations! Within a few minutes, I was laughing right along with her! This book is hilarious!!!

Happiness is finding a book you know your child will love. And there is nothing like the perverse joy of having your child sneak off to read instead of doing what you `want' them to do. Thankfully, many of the great books my kids have relished such as The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1), Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Fairy Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, Book 1) (Bk. 1) come with sequels that satisfy as much as the first one does. This was never truer than with Nick Bruel's latest Bad Kitty book, Happy Birthday Bad Kitty. Oooh, it is so good. My kids understandably fought over it when it first came. However, it is so delightfully funny that neither one of them has grown even slightly tired of it. Neither have I. Mr. Bruel has managed the seemingly impossible balance of simple sentences and repetition that early readers need with an entertaining and fast paced story that appeals to all ages. Plus, he teaches all of us some interesting things about cats in the process. This is particularly good for my younger daughter who is bored with the books at her level, but not quite able to read the books that really interest her - i.e. the books her older sister is reading. I highly recommend this book for your next birthday party gift for anyone from Kindergarten through 2nd grade. Now all we have to do is wait for the soon to be released Ivy & Bean Doomed to Dance (October 14th) and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma(October 9th).

My 1st Grader purchased this book at the Book Fair and I really thought this was going to be a waste of time and money (the title and cover really didn't do it for me). But, my kid insisted that her teacher had it in their class library and that it would be a fun book. To my surprise, I really enjoyed reading this book with both of my kids (I also have a third grader). It is especially entertaining because we have a cat similar to Bad Kitty. The illustrations and layout, combine story, comic book, and interesting facts into one place, so there is even something for adults to learn. This is also one of the few books that does justice for both of my kids and they even read and laugh together with this one, and it doesn't even need stickers. If your family has a cat, kids will notice the similarities too, so I would really recommmend purchasing it. Plus, as an adult it is a little more enjoyable to follow.

Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty just arrived this afternoon. Although it is a children's book, it is very funny for adults, too, and my husband and I read it over each others' shoulders after work and had a much needed laugh. Especially on page 140. Yes, it has over 140 pages, but they are short, and it took us only about 10 minutes to read silently. We haven't finished reading it to our daughter yet, but I am guessing it would take about 45 minutes to read aloud, or maybe longer if you can't stop laughing. There are informative facts about cats in the book, such as their crepuscular nature (not many kids' books use that word), how cat's claws grow, and why they shouldn't eat chocolate. The book is long enough, and the vocabulary complex enough, that one might wonder if kids would like it. The answer is yes. Our 5-year-old daughter loves all four Bad Kitty books, both the long and the short ones, and finds them hilarious. I asked her why, and she said it was the biting and destruction. She also likes the illustrations and the stories. For those who read the previous Bad Kitty books, it didn't seem as wordy as Bad Kitty Gets a Bath. Also, although the alphabet makes a triumphant return in the early pages, it is mostly a story, not an alphabet book. For those who haven't read the previous books, give them a try!