Bathe the Cat written by Alice B. McGinty, illustrated by David Roberts
- Cana Clark
- Aug 16
- 4 min read
Who hasn’t heard of Bathe the Cat at this point? Illustrated by The Questioneers’ beloved artist, David Roberts, and written by Alice B. McGinty, this fridge-magnet-filled, absurd, lovingly-created book of endearing family chaos has won numerous awards, like the Illinois Monarch Award and Irma Simonton Black and James H. Black Award, plus earned plenty of starred reviews (and from The Horn Book, no less)!
The first standout feature of this book is the art. Roberts uses the traditional mediums of watercolor and colored pencil to create a movement-filled story with every spread. (As an aside, I love the paper quality of this book — it really feels like a high-quality book. The white of the paper shines through the watercolor paint). Roberts is a master watercolor-wielder!
Details in the illustrations of the toys and background add a fully developed life to this snapshot of the family. Toys have multi-colored fabric and unique designs; one dad’s shirt has a complex pattern that Roberts shows on almost every page. (I can’t imagine the time and expertise it took to pull that off, especially since the dad is shown in multiple poses and positions, which causes creases and folds in the fabric). You can spend a lot of time just spotting the different toys scattered throughout the pages. The kids’ drawings are pinned to the fridge, showcasing the adoration the family has for each other — even the endpapers feature crayon drawings of the cat and Grandma Marge.
The characters of this book are full people, even as they work as a unit to prepare for Grandma’s visit. The dads and kids have their own fashion style. Each of them has something unique about their character design. One of my favorite examples of this is how one of the dads has his shirt tag poking out — look lower and you’ll see little Bobby’s tag sticking out the same way. Bobby even stands with his hands on his hips, just like Dad! (I could cry about that).
The dynamic illustrations make your eyes glide across the page — whoever was in charge of text layout for this book did an EXCELLENT job. The illustrations and text are inseparable, like the text is an element of the dynamic art showing us a sweeping view of the family going about their absurd chores.
Moving on from illustrations for a second, the RHYME scheme is just phenomenal. Not every kids book has to rhyme, but there is a feeling of satisfaction that comes from reading a well-written rhyme. The readaloud of this book is SO smooth and bouncy. Fun!
The flow of the text in this book is immaculate. McGinty keeps surprising you as you read, adding more and more layers of humor. Ex. “I’ll fish the floor./Wait!/Stop!/I mean, Bobby bathe the bathtub!/Sarah, Bob the mat!/Dad will feed the lawnmower!/And I’ll catch the cat!”
Even though Bathe the Cat is technically about getting all the chores done before Grandma Marge visits, there’s a real heart of play. Like the parents in Bluey, the parents in Bathe the Cat are 100% committed to playing with their kids, joining them on the floor and making chores fun.
Speaking of chores, the alphabet fridge magnets serve the plot, but it’s absolutely delightful to imagine a family whose chores are written in multi-colored fridge magnets. Full spread closeups of the cat rearranging the chore list make for a comical plot device. I mean, come on! It’s text and illustration in perfect synchronicity (try reading the rearranged chore list on the fridge before the next page reveals the result).
The parents’ full and unquestioning obedience of the fridge magnet chore list is hilarious. Can’t you just hear your audience’s giggles when you read the “scrub those fishes?”
Even as the dad gets more frustrated and time runs out before Grandma’s visit, he never seems scary in his anger. I actually don’t know if I would call it anger, because he never has big angry eyebrows or aggressive body language. At the end, the dad is able to take charge (by holding the cat in his arms, so the cat can’t rearrange the chore list again). The last chore is to rock the cat, which the cat accepts with a very satisfied expression. What a lovely end to Bathe the Cat!
The elephant in the room of this book is that despite its clear artistry, perfect readaloud factor, and many accolades — a section of people’s reaction to this book completely ignores everything I've just written about. For some, the only thing they notice about this book is that it’s centered around a family featuring two Black dads and their multiracial children. Negative reactions and outright bans of Bathe the Cat come at the intersection where homophobia and racism meet. The little Pride flag magnets catch their attention — Grandma Marge’s Progress flag purse is not a sign of her love and celebration of her family — it’s a symbol of the book’s agenda. To some, the Black dads and their one white child is not a choice made for any reason other than to further an agenda with which they disagree. Bathe the Cat has been banned and removed; its inclusion in school book fairs has caused the end of some of those book fairs. (Imagine hating a kids book so much that you take books away from children! It’s like cartoon-level evil).
But all of that is nonsense.
Bathe the Cat is an AWESOME book. It exudes National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Mac Barnett’s assertion that picture books are art for children... Each word and swathe of paint is deeply intentional and lovingly crafted ART! Bathe the Cat is art.
Book Info
Title: Bathe the Cat
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 9781452142708
Author: Alice B. McGinty
Illustrator: David Roberts
Pub date: February 2022
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