Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

With the alphabet as his jumping off point, Bruel (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Boing!) recounts just how far things can go awry when cats go bad. After Kitty discovers that the only food in the house consists of 26 kinds of vegetables (asparagus, beets, cauliflower and on through zucchini), her mood turns blacker than her scraggly fur coat. She unleashes her own alphabet of woe that will have youngsters howling with laughter (and cat owners young and old will understand that many of these scenarios do not require a total suspension of disbelief). Bruel chronicles the misbehavior by dividing the spreads into eight strips, each containing a kind of visual one-liner devoted to a single letter. "She... <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Quarreled with our neighbors," the author writes, as Kitty watches through the mail slot while a human holds a note that reads, "Meow Hiss Hiss...!" The furry protagonist even "Sold my toys" (Kitty seems to have appropriated her unseen owner's lemonade stand for this purpose). But when the humans restock the larder with cat-friendly food (rhino ravioli, shark sushi, etc.), the feline turns over a new leaf—in alphabetical fashion, of course. Even readers who've mastered their ABCs will laugh at Bruel's gleefully composed litanies and the can-you-top-this spirit that animates every page. Ages 4-8. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Oct.)

ALA Booklist

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.

Horn Book

A good kitty goes bad when offered an alphabetic assortment of vegetables (asparagus to zucchini). How bad? "She...Ate my homework / Bit Grandma..." and finally "Zeroed the zinnias." But when she's fed properly (anchovies through zebra ziti), "she...Apologized to Grandma / Bought me new toys...." Bruel's energetic illustrations, which delight in this kitty's A-to-Z mood swings, ratchet up the humor.

Kirkus Reviews

She may be a "bad bad BAD Kitty," but she's the star of an alphabet book that should be in every collection. This poor, black kitty only became bad when her family ran out of kitty-appropriate food. She was going to be forced to eat an alphabet of healthy foods, asparagus to zucchini. So she perpetrates an alphabet of badness, from "Ate my homework" to "Zeroing the zinnias." Then her loving family returns from the grocery with an alphabet of great kitty food, anchovies to zebra ziti—some of it silly, but she's excited enough to reform and perform an alphabet of gracious actions, from apologizing to a nipped grandma to lulling a baby into a "zzz"-ful sleep. Kitty gets a present too, her just deserts (a puppy to play with). Bruel's little black star is perhaps the hammiest, most expressive feline ever captured in watercolors. The quarter-page illustrations for all the letters in all four alphabets are littered with little (and big) laughs. Even the alphabet-experienced will love this bad, bad kitty! (Picture book. 3-9)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 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 2005 Reed Business Information.