Bad Kitty Returns! Poor Puppy by Nick Bruel

Although Nick Bruel's just-published picture book is titled Poor Puppy, the star of the show is Bad Kitty, a scrawny, scraggly she-cat (see my review of Bad Kitty posted April 1, 2007) who has no desire to play with poor Puppy, a clumsy, clueless mutt who pants to play chase with the cat of the house.

But not to worry. Bruel provides an alphabetical list of alternative playthings for Puppy--Airplanes, Balls, Cars, Dolls, Electric trains (with Kitty glaring balefully from inside the railroad tunnel)--but, "ME-double OW!" not Old cat toys from under the sofa! Now Puppy has gone too far, and as Puppy plays his way through the rest of the alphabet (Wind-Up Toys, BoXes of crayons, Yo-yos, and Zoo animals), Bruel shows Kitty, little left fang in sight, plotting a cat-toy takeover.

Pooped by his playtime, Puppy drops into dreamland, where his reveries are all about playing with Kitty, in alphabetical order (naturally), from Applebobbing in Antarctica, through Limbo in London (with a Beefeater guard holding one end of the stick) and Sprinting (from the Pamplona bulls) in Spain. As Puppy snoozes, we see Kitty stalking stealthily, belly to the ground, on a marauding mission to recapture her catnip mouse from Puppy's paws.

Alas for Kitty! When she snatches the mouse, Puppy awakes and, ironically, after Kitty's aloof act, finally gets his wish to chase Kitty to his heart's content.

Poor Puppy gives the reader another chance to root for an unlikely heroine, a good cat-bad cat character who is as charming as she is conniving. Bruel's drawings of his scruffy little feline are a delight. I'd love to see more of Bad Kitty from Nick Bruel.