Bathe the Cat (Hardcover)
November/December 2021 Kids Indie Next List
“I love it! Fun rhymes, great illustrations, awesome dads, and much silliness. What more could you ask for?”
— Lillian Welch, Island Books (WA), Mercer Island, WA
It's cleaning day, but the family cat will do anything to avoid getting a bath. So instead of mopping the floor or feeding the fish, the family is soon busy rocking the rug, vacuuming the lawn, and sweeping the dishes. Bouncy rhyme carries the story headlong into the growing hilarity, until finally Dad restores some kind of order—but will the cat avoid getting his whiskers wet?
HILARIOUS READ-ALOUD: Word scrambles are a delight in this silly rhyming picture book! Kids will love the accessible rhyming text, and emerging readers will be able to anticipate words after repeated reads, making for an engaging and interactive read-aloud experience.
CATNIP FOR CAT LOVERS: This sweet and sneaky feline will do anything to get out of having a bath! Ample cat antics and scenes of increasing mischief (and increasing chaos!) around the house will tickle young readers and entice parents—particularly those with a furry feline of their own in the house.
TWO DADS LEAD THE WAY: Dad and Papa are the heads of this large and loving biracial family, mirroring illustrator David Roberts' own orientation and providing picture book readers with a positive depiction of LGBTQ+ characters in a fun and funny family story.
WINNING AUTHOR-ILLUSTRATOR TEAM: Alice McGinty is a prolific author of books for children, and David Roberts is well-known for his work on the New York Times bestselling Questioneers series. Together, their upbeat text and energetic art with pops of neon color make for a standout picture book, just right for gifting and enjoying together at storytime.
Perfect for:
- Parents looking for fun stories with cats and good books about diverse families to share with their kids
- Gifting for children's birthdays, Father's Day for cat dads, or pet adoption congratulations
- Cat lovers who celebrate the bad and the good of daily life with their feline overlords
- Readers who love the poetry and playfulness of Sandra Boynton, Emily Winfield Martin, and Shel Silverstein
- Adding to the family bookshelf alongside funny bath books and cat books like The Cat in the Hat, Bad Kitty Gets a Bath, and The Pigeon Needs a Bath!
Alice's latest books include Step by Step (Simon and Schuster, illustrated by Diane Goode), Bathe the Cat (Chronicle Books, illustrated by David Roberts), My Israel and Me (Kalaniot Books, illustrated by Rotem Terplow), A Synagogue Just Like Home (Candlewick Press, illustrated by Laurel Molk), and Truck Says Moo (Chronicle Books, illustrated by Camille Garoche).
Alice was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has lived in New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Maryland, Georgia, Indiana, and Illinois. She’s been in Illinois for over 25 years now! A frequent presenter at schools and conferences, Alice was awarded the 2017 Prairie State Award for excellence in writing for children.
Alice loves to hike, play the guitar, dance, and read. She’s also a writing teacher and coach, runs a writing camp for teens, is a children's book reviewer for The News-Gazette or Champaign-Urbana, and is a Regional Adviser Emerita for the Illinois Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
David Roberts is an award-winning illustrator of bestselling children's books, including Iggy Peck, Architect; Rosie Revere, Engineer;Ada Twist, Scientist; and Sofia Valdez, Future Prez. He is currently based in London.
“[Bathe the Cat] will be an absolute hoot at storytime with the rhythmic text lending bounce and energy, and the wacky word play guaranteeing giggles. The father’s increasingly frantic desperation is ripe for dramatic interpretation . . . The watercolor and pencil art has a retro feel, both in bold palette and stylized figures, but the family makes for a fully diverse representation of modernity, with the two Black dads wrangling their family into tidiness.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
“Clean-up time turns topsy-turvy when an interracial family’s mischievous cat jumbles up their to-do list in this sure-footed picture book. . . . Pencil and watercolor scenes by Roberts (The Cook and the King) emphasize the increasing goofiness of the family’s repeated efforts to get their mess under control, and light rhymes by McGinty (A Story for Small Bear) pair smartly with the amusing concept.”—Publishers Weekly
“Lively, expressive watercolor-and-pencil illustrations of the multiracial family and animated scenarios are the perfect accompaniment for the peppy rhyming text, humorously depicting the household-chores chaos (and kitty’s contributions) in this inviting, quite entertaining read-aloud friendly title.”—Booklist
“Told in rhyming verse, McGinty’s silly yarn has charm to spare. Young readers will be tickled by the cat’s mischievous misdirects and the resulting pandemonium. Roberts’s pen and watercolor illustrations carry on the aesthetic tradition of Pat Hutchins and Judi Barrett, paying homage to the colors and fashions of the 70s. Each page is filled with well-conceived details that deserve close inspection. Preschoolers will be in stitches reading this modern revelry told through a vintage lens.”—School Library Journal
“McGinty’s energetically rhyming story is good at delegating . . . Cleanly rendered illustrations show the family dutifully following orders while things go hilariously wrong. Roberts’s (Ada Twist, Scientist) precise pencil and watercolor illustrations go beyond the entertaining premise to matter-of-factly portray a family at the intersection of a number of identities.”—The Horn Book Magazine, starred review
![Franklin Smoke: Wood. Fire. Food. [A Cookbook] By Aaron Franklin, Jordan Mackay Cover Image](jpg/9781984860484.jpg)
