How to Give Your Cat a Bath - (How to Cat Books) by Nicola Winstanley

About the Book

In this hilarious and clever "how-to" from the creator of "Cinnamon Baby, " a little girl and a know-it-all narrator (who really doesn't know it all) are thwarted by a cat who refuses to take a bath. Full color.

Book Synopsis

In this hilarious and clever "how-to" picture book, a little girl and a know-it-all narrator are thwarted by a cat who refuses to take a bath. The perfect read-aloud for fans of Snappsy the Alligator and Interrupting Chicken.

Step one: fill the bath
Step two: put the cat in the bath
Step three: put shampoo on the cat
Step four: rinse the cat
Step five: dry the cat

Seems simple, right? One problem: the cat has no intention of doing ANY of these things! Watch as the steps keep changing, the cat keeps escaping, the girl keeps eating cookies and the mess keeps escalating. Soon it's not just the cat who needs a bath -- it's the whole house!

This spoof on an instruction manual features an increasingly bewildered human, a nonchalant cat and a know-it-all narrator . . . who really doesn't know it all. How DO you give a cat a bath? Read on to find out!

Review Quotes

Featured in School Library Journal's top 2019 Funny Picture Books list
One of CCBC's Best Books for Kids & Teens 2019
One of the Ontario Library Association's 2019 Top Ten Titles

PRAISE FOR How to Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps

"This laugh-out-loud picture book can serve as a beginning reader. . . . The inevitable ending will delight both children and adults and this title will be requested over and over." --STARRED REVIEW, Booklist

"Early-years students will love the humour and irony of the situation. Highly recommended." --Resource Links

"As the chaos unfolds, viewers will be delighted to track the cat through the chase scenes. . . . There's a wry humor in the unseen narrator's directives, and the text makes a particularly amusing counterpart to the little girl's visibly increasing frustration with the whole endeavor." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

[A] pleasing and well-executed story that really is the cat's meow. An excellent choice for independent reading and sharing in small groups." --School Library Journal

"Everyone will appreciate this delightful book." --Imaginary Elevators

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. --Publishers Weekly

"Adorably frustrating . . . will have young readers slapping their foreheads in exasperation, but will reward them with a sweet, funny ending . . . Martz's colourful line drawings match the happy, manic energy." --New York Times

"Delightfully entertaining." --Midwest Book Review

About the Author

NICOLA WINSTANLEY has always believed in the power of stories to bring comfort. She is the author of The Pirate's Bed, A Bedtime Yarn, How to Give Your Cat a Bath and Cinnamon Baby, which won an honor prize for the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award and was shortlisted for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. Nicola lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with her family, a huge cat and a tiny dog.

JOHN MARTZ is an illustrator, cartoonist and designer. He is the author and illustrator of Evie and the Truth About Witches, Burt's Way Home, A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories and the illustrator of Who's on First? and Crocodile Hungry. His work has also appeared in MAD Magazine and The Nib. He lives in Toronto.