Bad Cat!

A guileless, off-site narrator futilely entreats Fluffykins—green-eyed, ginger-furred, and utterly recalcitrant—to apologize for successive misdeeds. . . O’Byrne ever so lightly anthropomorphizes her protagonist’s expressions, the cat’s heavy-lidded glare modulated by tiny changes in mouth position that give the cat a distinctively evil look—dramatically magnified by a view through the goldfish bowl on the final page. . . readers inclined to indulge feline mischief will chuckle at the extremes on display.

With bold serifed text, crisp white backgrounds, and digital art reminiscent of colored pencils, O’Byrne tells a simple, charming tale that rings true for anyone who cohabits with a cat. Giggles will abound as Fluffykins gleefully wreaks havoc, and the narrator’s admonishments and Fluffykins’s mischievous antics (complete with an utterly feline scowl) will make this a sure favorite for group storytime. This will be a great pick for fans who appreciate the willful chaos of Shannon’s David or Mo Willems’s Pigeon.