How to Give Your Cat a Bath: In Five Easy Steps

A child confidently educates readers about the finer points of cat bathing. From the get-go, things don’t go as planned: first, the girl overfills the tub. “Mr. Flea,” a fluffy white cat with a pink nose that matches the girl’s pigtails, catches on to what’s happening and flees (“Step Two: Put your cat in the—wait, where is the cat?” Winstanley writes). After a housewide search for Mr. Flea, the girl takes a break for milk and cookies that is thwarted by the dive-bombing kitty, precipitating a return to the bathtub, another escape, and a seriously flooded bathroom. Martz’s expressive art lays out the runaway circumstances through vignettelike passages and dialogue balloons, capturing the experience of well-laid plans quickly unraveling into disaster. Ages 3–7. [em](Jan.) [/em]