Children’s books are evergreen because life is always a novelty to new children. Although Garfield has been a cultural staple for several decades now, a new bad cat is gaining stardom. Bad Kitty is a series of books that features a mischievous cat who likes to explore and absent-mindedly causes chaos to her owner’s home and property. It is a storyline that is endearing, engaging to children, and also a bit instructive. Books can be bought from an online Bad Kitty Store.
The series focuses on the antics of a black cat. She behaves very much like real-world cats but still has some anthropomorphic traits such as the ability to write notes with a paper and pencil. She seems to understand human speech at times and has an indifferent attitude towards human concerns because she has her own unique perspective as a cat. She is not a sarcastic prop for mature humor as Garfield sometimes is but instead goes on very feline escapades that cat owners can easily relate to.
The Title character is named “Kitty.” While this might not seem clever, it is consistent with the series title. Kitty is a female black cat with a white patch on the chest. While Kitty was modeled after a real-world animal known to the creator, her design is symbolic because black cats are known for bad luck but she is not entirely black. Her white chest betrays her as a domesticated animal and is a symbol for her less-than-sinister nature.
Bad Kitty Store as a series features many companions for Kitty who are also archetypes that can be used to teach social or moral lessons. Some of these extra cats have bad manners, bad habits, or bad hygiene. Since one misaligned feline is not enough to continuously laugh at, being able to compare the virtues and flaws of other felines is very amusing. Just like in the real world, it is possible to love one person because they lack a flaw even while they have another flaw.
Kitty is fairly trim and much more active than that other cartoon feline. She goes to the vet and explores her house but is not a passive observer. She does not always fight the vet but nonetheless squirms and reminds the reader of how they feel about shots and other treatments. Kitty is fun because she likes to adventure and because her curiosity and misbehavior are easily relatable to both adults and kids.
