Bad Cats

I'm a judge in a children's book contest and I just finished my entries and I want you to shoot me now. Why do people think children's books have to be opportunities to hit the child over the head with a moral or lesson? I'm sick of books that feature sickeningly sweet protagonists. In light of this, I give you a double header cat book of the day: Mr Pusskins: A Love Story and Rotten Ralph. Mr Pusskins was first brought to my attention by Daniel Pinkwater on NPR, and his reading with Scott Simon is too much fun. Rotten Ralph existed for me first on some valentines we had donated to the office, and when I found him later in book form, I realized he was the literary version of our Archie. While Mr. Pusskins does get his comeuppance and learns a lesson, I love that Rotten Ralph never does.