Every three years during the month of May, people in Ypres, Belgium participate
in a festival specifically dedicated to cats. Yes, to cats! (I love cats.) This
festival is called
. On this day,
people attend Kattenstoet parades, dress up in cat costumes, and toss stuffed
toys cats in the air. Sounds like fun, yes? Keep reading to learn more about
Kattenstoet and for a quick list of children’s books about cats.
Even though the Kattenstoet is a fun and joyous day of celebration for the
people of Ypres, it has a dark history. Kattenstoet dates back to the Middle
Ages. Ypres was a cloth manufacturing town that had a problem with too many
mice. Cats were attracted to the mice, hunted them, and ate them. The people
of Ypres were glad to see the mice gone, but soon they had another
problem… too many cats. To solve this problem, the local court jester
tossed the cats off the church belfry. Fortunately, if you were to celebrate
Kattenstoet today, you wouldn’t see live cats tossed from the church belfry.
Instead, you would see people in the belfry tossing stuffed toy cats to the
children below. Meow!
There are a lot of fun children’s books about cats out there that have
absolutely nothing to do with tossing cats off of belfries…. thank
goodness! The following six cat books are high-interest and popular books
among children and teachers. They have been around for a long time and could
be considered ‘classics’ by some people. If you know about other cat books
that children may enjoy, please let us know in the comments below!
If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff
🐱 Author’s Summary:
If you give a cat a cupcake, he’ll ask for some sprinkles to go with it.
When you give him the sprinkles, he might spill some on the floor.
Cleaning up will make him hot, so you’ll give him a bathing suit…
Written in the tradition of the bestselling
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond’s If You Give a Cat a Cupcake will
show everyone that Cat is where it’s at!
🐱 Author: Laura Numeroff
🐱 Illustrator: Felicia Bond
🐱 Publisher: HarperCollins
🐱 Year: 2008
🐱 Pages: 32
Splat the Cat by Rob Scotten
🐱 Author’s Summary: It’s Splat’s first day of school,
and he’s worried. What if he doesn’t make any new friends? Nervous kitties
wondering about friends and school will enjoy laughing along with
Splat the Cat!
Just in case, Splat decides to bring along
his pet mouse, Seymour, and hides him in his lunchbox. The teacher, Mrs.
Wimpydimple, introduces Splat to the class and he soon starts learning all
his important cat lessons.
But when Seymour escapes and the cats
do what cats… they chase mice… Splat’s worried again. Maybe now he’ll
lose all his friends, old and new! Just in time, wise Mrs. Wimpydimple takes
charge and teaches everyone an important new lesson. Maybe Cat School is
going to be okay after all!
🐱 Author: Rob Scotten
🐱 Illustrator: Rob Scotten
🐱 Publisher: HarperCollins
🐱 Year: 2008
🐱 Pages: 40
Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner
.He’s actually El Skippito, a great sword fighter ready to battle banditos
the world over! With a little imagination and a whole lot of fun, this
frisky cat dons a mask and cape and takes on a bad bumble-beeto to save the
day. And along the way, he’ll be sure to steal young readers’ hearts, yes
indeed-o!
My name is Skippito Friskito.
I fear not a single bandito.
My
manners are mellow,
I’m sweet like the Jell-O,
I get the job
done, yes indeed-o.
🐱 Author: Judy Schachtner
🐱 Illustrator: Judy Schachnerer
🐱 Publisher: Puffin Books
🐱 Year: 2005
🐱 Pages: 32
Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin
🐱 Author’s Summary: Pete the Cat goes walking down the
street wearing his brand-new white shoes. Along the way, his shoes change
from white to red to blue to brown to WET as he steps in piles of
strawberries, blueberries, and other big messes!
But no matter
what color his shoes are, Pete keeps movin’ and groovin’ and singing his
song…because it’s all good. Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes asks the
reader questions about the colors of different foods and objects—kids love
to interact with the story.
🐱 Author: Eric Litwin
🐱 Illustrator: James Dean
🐱 Publisher: HarperCollins
🐱 Year: 2010
🐱 Pages: 40
Grumpy Cat by Britta Teckentrup
🐱 Author’s Summary: Once there was a cat who lived all
alone. He ate on his own. He slept on his own. He spent every day alone.
Poor Cat! The other kitties never ask him to play. He just seems so…
grumpy. Then, one night, in a terrible rainstorm, everything changes: Grumpy
Cat hears a plaintive meow and finds a drenched little kitten taking shelter
between his paws. And no matter what Grumpy Cat does, she’s determined to
stick by him. Endearing art, expressive characters, and gentle storytelling
from Britta Teckentrup (Big Smelly Bear) send children the comforting
message that there’s a special friend for everyone.
🐱 Author: Britta Teckentrup
🐱 Publisher: Boxer Books
🐱 Year: 2008 ***may be out of print***
🐱 Pages: 32
Bad Kitty Gets a Bath by Nick Bruel
🐱 Author’s Summary: Pet owners beware! Bad Kitty
really needs a bath, and she is forced to take one in this hysterical
illustrated how-to for young readers. The following are some items you
will need for Kitty’s bath: one bathtub, plenty of water, dry towels, a
suit of armor, a letter to your loved ones, clean underwear (because
stressful situations can cause “accidents”), an ambulance in your driveway
with the engine running, and, oh, yeah, you’ll also need Kitty . . . but
good luck with that! Kitty is at her worst in this riotous how-to guide
filled with bad smells, cautionary tales of horror, and hopefully by the
end . . . some soap.
🐱 Author: Nick Bruel
🐱 Illustrator: Nick Bruel
🐱 Publisher: Square Fish
🐱 Year: 2009
🐱 Pages: 144
Did you enjoy this blog post about Kattenstoet and the list of
children’s books? If so, check out these blog posts for more book lists:
search words: Kattenstoet, festivals, cat, cats, kittens
