I’ve loved cats my whole life, ever since I started to crawl around with our two cats Tabby and Tubby when I was a baby. Cats are cute and beautiful and have so much personality that they get away with all kinds of shenanigans. This makes cats the perfect subject for picture books for children, which is why I wrote my own cat picture book, and why I’m always on the lookout for kids’ books where they’re the star of the show. So many picture books have serious and instructive themes, and while these books are obviously important, sometimes you just want to snuggle up with your little one and have a good laugh.
By Nicola Winstanley, John Martz
Step one: fill the bath. Step two: put the cat in the bath. Step three: put shampoo on the cat. Step four: rinse the cat. Step five: dry the cat. Seems simple, right? One problem: the cat has no intention of doing any of these things! The steps keep changing, the cat keeps escaping, the girl keeps eating cookies and the mess keeps escalating. Soon it’s not just the cat who needs a bath – it’s the whole house!
A perfect story to read to your dog.
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By Mélanie Watt
I’m a big fan of rascally cats, and Chester is the rascalliest of them all. Like most cats, he wants to be the centre of attention. He rewrites the story and draws over the pictures to make the book about him, instead of a mouse. Funny—and clever!—this book was a great inspiration for my book.
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By Susin Nielsen, Olivia Chin Mueller
Another cat with attitude—(wait, don’t all cats have attitude?)—but I especially love this book for the sweet friendship between these two unlikely pals, because my little dog adores my cat in the same way. As well, the illustrations are as pretty, soft, and fuzzy as Princess Puffy Bottom’s...well, bottom.
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By Judith Kerr
Mog the Forgetful Cat was published the year I was born. It’s still one of my favourite books. In this well-crafted and longer story, Mog becomes an unlikely hero after scaring a burglar with her annoying meowing at the window. Who wouldn’t love the pure catishness of the drawings, the gentle humour of the story, or the ending in which Mog is given a medal and an egg, and the burglar is given a cup of tea?
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By Jory John, Lane Smith
The narrator of Cat Problems is a cynical, bad-tempered, ungrateful cat (sounds a lot like my cat, Stanley), wonderfully drawn by the brilliant Lane Smith. After the cat’s litany of complaints, a nosy squirrel tries to teach him (and the reader) a lesson about gratitude, but the cat just ignores him. And I love that! Sometimes, you don’t need a lesson, you just need to laugh—and you will!
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By Peter Bently
Okay, so this book isn’t exactly laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s a wonderful read-aloud. I’m usually not a fan of rhyming picture books, but this book is definitely an exception because of its exuberant and perfect poetry. The cat in this book is pretty sweet—with utterly adorable eyebrows!—and it’s nice to see a good-natured cat making friends with a mouse.
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