Bad Kitty, Scaredy-Cat

PreS-Gr 2—Bad Kitty, the character who reinvented cattitude, is back in time for Halloween. Bright pumpkin-orange endpapers frame the alphabet-focused tale of how Kitty became a scaredy-cat and how she recovers her courage with the help of 26 kinds of Halloween treats. We're first introduced to the formerly Angry, Brave, Clumsy, Daring, Energetic, Fearless cat who was transformed one All Hallows' Eve. Who can resist language like "one dark and foggy night, something terrible happened. Out of the darkness and into her doorway appeared the most horrible and frightening creatures Kitty had ever seen." (The dramatic language is entertainingly offset by illustrations of Kitty sprawling on top of a cheery, drooling Puppy.) And who were these creatures? A Monstrous Mummy, Noisy Neanderthal, Odious Ogre, Putrid Pirate—oh, they're so convincingly weird and wicked that Kitty has to hide her eyes and duck under the couch. But the reviving powers of apples, bubble gum, candy corn, dried fruit, and English toffee, all dropped by the aforementioned monsters, bring back the BAD in Bad Kitty, and readers can only feel sorry for the bemused trick-or-treaters whom she disrobes, if not dismembers.