2019, JUVENILE FICTION
WISE Score
Kitty attempts a high-stakes turkey heist that ends with her wearing the main course as a hat.
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If your kid finds traditional Thanksgiving books a bit too sugary, Bad Kitty is the antidote. It's pure, chaotic fun that centers on the one thing every kid is actually thinking about during the holidays: the food.
It doesn't try to teach a deep lesson about history or gratitude. Instead, it delivers a solid five minutes of slapstick comedy that actually makes kids want to pick up a book. For a holiday that can sometimes feel long and formal to a six-year-old, this is a necessary bit of levity.
Perfect for preschoolers and early elementary kids (ages 3-8). It's simple enough to be a read-aloud but has enough visual detail for a first-grader to enjoy looking at solo.
It is classic slapstick humor. While Kitty is 'bad,' the consequences are funny and harmless, focusing on a cat being a cat rather than any actual malice.
Nick Bruel's visual storytelling is clever, using the 'I don't like it' trope to set up a funny subversion about a cat's single-minded obsession with food.
It is a picture book about a cantankerous cat. No triggers, no violence beyond cartoonish slapstick, and zero content concerns for the target age group.
Excellent for building visual literacy and keeping reluctant readers engaged with high-energy pacing and relatable holiday chaos.
The Bad Kitty series has always been a reliable 'gateway drug' for reading. Nick Bruel understands that kids (and adults) find grumpy, self-centered pets inherently funny. In this 2019 holiday entry, he leans hard into the physical comedy of a cat who simply cannot help herself when a giant bird is on the table.
Most Thanksgiving books for this age range fall into two categories: the historical overview or the 'everyone is thankful' circle. Bad Kitty Does Not Like Thanksgiving ignores both. It treats the holiday as a backdrop for a heist movie starring a cat. This makes it infinitely more readable for a kid who isn't in the mood for a lecture.
The layout often mimics a comic strip, which is great for pre-readers. They can follow the action and understand the 'plot'—Kitty wants turkey, Kitty makes a plan, Kitty fails—entirely through the drawings. It's a great example of how a 'simple' book can actually build complex narrative understanding. If your kid has already moved on to the Bad Kitty chapter books, this might feel a little young, but for the younger siblings or for a quick laugh, it still hits the mark.
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