From the creator of The New York Times bestseller Boing! comes the riotous story of a cat gone berserk -- four times over an in alphabetical order each time. Kitty is not happy hen she's told that her favorite foods are all gone and all that's left are Asparagus, Beets, Cauliflower, Dill...and 22 other equally unappealing vegetables. So she: Ate my homework, Bit grandma, Clawed the curtains, Damaged the dishes, and so on, through Z. Only when tastier things arrive (An Assortment of Anchovies, Buffalo Burritos, Chicken Cheesecake...) does she Apologize to Grandma. Kindergarten-Grade 3–This four-part alphabet book will appeal to youngsters who like their stories more naughty than nice. The tale opens with Kitty learning that her owners have run out of cat food and that her only options are healthy and nutritious edibles that run the gamut from Asparagus to Zucchini. She reacts by doing an A-to-Z list of mischievous things, like claw[ing] the curtains and hurl[ing] hair balls at our heads. When her owners return with food that ranges from An Assortment of Anchovies to Baked Zebra Ziti, Kitty realizes she must atone for her bad behavior with a final list of alphabetical deeds such as cleaning the cat box and washing the car. Some actions and items are a bit of a stretch, in particular sQuashes for Q and rhUbarb for U. While the story is packed with colorful cartoon illustrations that introduce each object, it is Kitty who steals the show with her slyly drawn feline expressions. Intended for slightly older alphabet-book fans, this offering will attract readers with a taste for the ridiculous. –Maura Bresnahan, High Plain Elementary School, Andover, MA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. K-Gr. 2. Ostensibly about a cat that turns bad when her family runs out of her favorite food, this is really a clever alphabet book for kids old enough to appreciate the way words work. When a calm kitty overhears her owner say that healthy food is now on the menu, the high-energy artwork shows the cat in paroxysms of horror set against a series of blocks containing pictures of vegetables, alphabetically arranged from asparagus to zucchini. That's when Kitty decides to become Bad Kitty: she "ate my homework . . . hurled hair balls at our heads." Kitty changes again after her owner returns with an A-Z assortment of good, if peculiar, treats, some of which may give readers pause (a donkey named Dave). But Kitty is happy with them all, and to show her pleasure, she undoes all her bad actions--in alphabetical order. The cat, with seemingly dozens of expressions, is the star, but other aspects of the amusingly silly illustrations have equal weight. There's so much going on here that kids will find lots to laugh about. Ilene Cooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Nick Bruel is the author and illustrator of New York Times bestseller Boing! and the Bad Kitty books, among others. He is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist, and during his down time, he collects PEZ dispensers and grows tomatoes in the backyard. He lives in Tarrytown, NY with his wife Carina and their lovely cat Esmerelda.