Susanna Leonard Hill has a feature on her blog called Perfect Picture Book Friday. It is a list of “perfect” picture books recommended by all sorts of people. I chose this book because it is a Bad Kitty book AND a Christmas book! Great combo at this time of year!
A Bad Kitty Christmas
By Nick Bruel
40 pages – ages 4+
Published by Roaring Brook Press on September 13, 2011
Theme/Topic – Christmas Spirit/Being Grateful/Alphabet/Rhyming
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Opening and Synopsis –
‘Twas the night before Christmas,
and all through the city
Not a creature was stirring …
BLAM CRASH KABOOM!
… Except for Bad Kitty.
Kitty has ruined the presents for Christmas. She’s being GREEDY and a bad, BAD Kitty and she doesn’t seem to care. As Kitty and her family are driving to Uncle Murray’s house for a visit, Kitty jumped out the window because she was still mad she got yelled at! Kitty soon regrets what she did. She is cold, lost miserable and surrounded by rats! She hid in an alley and was found by a poor, but kindly, old lady. The lady brings her to her apartment and teaches her the true spirit of Christmas. Kitty then realizes what she did and gets homesick. Will anyone come to find her?
Why I liked this book – First off, Bad Kitty + Christmas + Rhyme + Alphabet = a very funny, book about the true spirit of Christmas and a (very) naughty cat. Need I say more? Well the long version is; I really liked this version of Bad Kitty and Mr. Bruel REALLY made funny rhymes (and alphabet sets – yes! There are FIVE alphabet sets in this book and they all rhyme!) to go with the book. He is one creative guy! What is even better is that along with all those alphabet sets, there is an awesome story about family and what Christmas is really about. I really like how this book teaches the true meaning of Christmas in a funny, Bad Kitty way! I think kids and adults will really enjoy this book. It is also great for a read aloud, especially for Christmas!
AND – As a Christmas gift to one lucky reader, I picked up a copy of this (wonderful) book at the Lititz Book festival, asked Mr. Bruel to sign it (which he did) and brought it back for a giveaway for Christmas! Read on to see how to enter to win!
Activities and Resources –
You can visit Mr. Bruel’s website HERE to learn more about him and Bad Kitty.
You can read a great PPBF review of the first Bad Kitty book by Ms. Barbara from Grade ONEderful HERE!
A great activity for this time of year is to talk to your child about the Christmas Spirit and helping someone in need by donating to a charity! HERE is a great post from Kirsten Larson of the Creating Curious Kids blog about giving to charities and getting kids involved!
I’ve heard Mr. Bruel talk at a couple of events and I like how he says that Bad Kitty belongs to everyone, not just him. One great activity to do with your kid is to write your own Bad Kitty adventure. I wrote a couple on my own and in fact, I hosted a kid-writing contest last year where I had 46 kids enter the contest! You can see the winners HERE.
Here is an entry that won a prize and it is good for this time of year -
It was submitted by Isabell age 6. She wrote “Bad Kitty jumped in a pile of tartar sauce and got tartar sauce all over the tree” – Christmas tree that is! It is cool to see how creative you can be with a Bad Kitty adventure!
To find more Perfect Picture Books please visit Susanna Hill’s blog HERE.
Now for what (some of) you have been waiting for, the giveaway!
- The Prize: A signed copy of A Bad Kitty Christmas!
- The Requirements: You comment on this post. That’s all. NEXT!
- The Ending: Thursday, December 13, 2012. Josie will pick a random winner on Friday the 14th and I will announce it in next week’s PPBF post.
Good luck and Thanks For Reading! 
The good news is I get another day off of school!! The bad news is we don’t know how long our electric will be out.
) just think of a cranky cat and come up with a story idea about it!
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