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Ask a bookseller
Emily Bright

Ask a Bookseller: 'Bathe the Cat'

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Ask a Bookseller
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All this month on Ask a Bookseller, we're featured books for kids and teens — and the grown — ups who love to read with them.

This week's book is a “phenomenal read-aloud,” according to Jessica Palacios of Once Upon a Time Bookstore in Montrose, Calif. It's the picture book “Bathe the Cat,” written by Minneapolis-born author Alice B. McGinty and illustrated by David Roberts.

Bathe the Cat
"Bathe the Cat," written by Minneapolis-born author Alice B. McGinty and illustrated by David Roberts
Chronicle Books

Palacios says the book's bright illustrations, word play, and silly antics make it a go-to book. (Once Upon a Time has a bookstore cat, and, yes, she did read this book aloud at its annual birthday party.)

In this story, a family is rushing to clean the house before Grandma arrives for a visit.

The chores are all listed with magnetic tiles on the fridge, but the cat, who most definitely does not want to take a bath, keeps scrambling the words, leading to such fun lines as, “Sarah, scrub the lawn! Dad, you feed the mat! Bobby, sweep the baby! I'll vacuum the cat!”

David Roberts, known for illustrating the series with “Ada Twist, Scientist” and “Rosie Revere, Engineer,” illustrates the story with bold, bright colors.

One of the children, Sarah, wears a yellow dinosaur outfit throughout her chores. (Because why not?)