The 6 Best Children’s Books About Cats for Your Favorite Kiddos — Available Today

Aside from the bond you form when reading to your children, books are also fantastic for stoking the flames of your kiddo’s imagination. Books help with developing their language skills and are also what your child’s developing brain needs to create a more extensive vocabulary. If you’ve ever felt the frustration of having a word on the tip of your tongue and not being able to express it, you can imagine the frustration of children that grow up with a limited vocabulary. By presenting them with new words on a daily basis, you are helping expand their understanding of themselves and the world.

The best part is that you can learn to create a positive association with reading and make it fun for them, so they continue on this path of knowledge without looking at it as a chore. If your kiddo loves cats, cat books are a great place to start with building a library. There are so many different books about cats, some that are non-fiction and give you some practical tips on how to care for a cat, how to groom a cat, and that also teach your kiddos facts about cats and kittens. Then, there are fiction stories about cats that create fantastic mindscapes for your kids to explore their own creativity.

Below, we share our top six favorite children’s books about cats and include the best overall, the best for babies, the best for seven to 10-year-olds, the best for preschool prep, and the best activity book which has so many activities and creates hours of fun, and finally, the best lesson inspired book. You’re sure to find one (or more than one) that you can snag up and have delivered to your house so that you and your favorite little one can start creating some long-lasting memories together.

A-Z-Animals’ Top Picks for the Best Children’s Books About Cats for Your Favorite Kiddos

#1 Best Overall: The Everything Book of Cats and Kittens by DK 

The best overall children’s book about cats is The Everything Book of Cats and Kittens by DK. This book, which is available in paperback and Kindle formats, delivers all the information a child could ever want to know about cats and kittens. It includes details about different breeds, how to care for a pet cat, and how to groom a pet cat. It also covers information on how cats communicate with each other and how they communicate with humans. If you have a kid who loves cats and kittens and either has a cat as a pet or plans to, this is an excellent resource for getting your kiddo acquainted with everything related to cats.

Since cats have a different personality than dogs, it’s important that children learn how to read a cat’s body language to understand what they’re trying to communicate at any given time. If they are indoor/outdoor cats or even if you’re just talking about stray kitties, you can explore what cats do when they’re outdoors. The book is fun and lively and packed with tons of amazing cat pictures and cat facts. The book is designed to take you into a deep dive into the fascinating world of cats.

The reading age for this book is between six and nine years old and it has a total of 96 pages. On average, this book has been rated 4.8 out of five stars. Customers call it an adorable book, saying that it captures a lot of information that’s worth looking through. One grandmother says that she bought it for her granddaughter and frequently finds her looking through the pages in this book. Another customer says that he adopted two kittens, and it was a helpful tool that taught his family a lot about how to best care for them.

Pros and Cons of The Everything Book of Cats and Kittens by DK 

Best Overall

The Everything Book of Cats and Kittens (Everything About Pets)

• Excellent resource for getting your kiddo acquainted with everything related to cats
• Teaches your child how to read a cat's body language
• 4.8 out of 5 star-rating on Amazon

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2. Best for Babies: Babies Love Kittens: A Lift-a-Flap Board Book by Scarlett Wing (Author), Cottage Door Press (Author, Editor), Jessica Gibson (Illustrator)

If you’re reading to a baby and want to get them acquainted with the life of kittens, Babies Love Kittens is a great go-to book. This lift-a-flap book is designed to introduce your little one to the cutest and the cuddliest of all fur babies. The pages are filled with text that rhymes and tons of animated pictures of curious kittens cuddling, playing, snoozing, and exploring. The pages are thick and durable and the easy-to-lift chunky flaps are perfect for your baby’s little hands to help you to turn each page.

The artwork is bold and designed specifically to capture the attention of your baby with bright colors and keep him or her entertained. There are several cat breeds featured in this book and they include Maine coon, Siamese, tabby, Persian, and some mixed breeds. There are also some interactive elements throughout the book, which help with sensory exploration and also support your baby as they develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It’s a must for any cat-loving family.

This book gets 4.9 out of five stars from 522 global ratings. Customers say that their babies have fallen in love with this book. It’s easily become a favorite bedtime story. One customer says that his tot is in love with cats and this book made the perfect addition to their library. Another customer says she is a fan of the “Babies Love” series and finds that all of the books are very well-made and hold up with sturdy flaps and fun rhymes. She has a collection for her baby, and she hasn’t been disappointed yet.

Pros and Cons of Babies Love Kittens: A Lift-a-Flap Board Book by Scarlett Wing (Author), Cottage Door Press (Author, Editor), Jessica Gibson (Illustrator)

Best for Babies

Babies Love Kittens: A Lift-a-Flap Board Book for Babies and Toddlers

• Thick and durable pages that your baby's fat fingers can turn easily
• Talks about various cat breeds, from tabbys to Persians
• 4.9 out of five stars from 522 global ratings

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3. Best for 7 – 10 Year Olds: Cat Diaries: Secret Writings of the MEOW Society by Betsy Byars (Author), Betsy Duffy (Author), Laurie Myers (Author), Erik Brooks (Illustrator)

Cat Diaries: Secret Writings of the MEOW Society is all about the secret writings of the MEOW society. It’s a collection of short stories for kids who love cats. The book, which is available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle formats, covers the annual gathering of the MEOW society, which is when cats come together to share their stories and the stories of their ancestors. One cat named Chico is the smallest cat in the world and his story is all about the time he stopped a crime. There is another cat that’s called a Pirate Cat who tells of a fateful day when he found a special treasure on his regular hunt for mice.

This book is a winning companion to another book entitled Dog Diaries which was written by the same authors. Even a reluctant reader will be drawn in by all of the funny, charming, and lesson-filled stories of these feline friends. This book is best for seven to 10 year old kids and has 96 pages. It has earned 4.7 out of five stars and customers love all of the super cute stories along with the illustrations.

They say the stories are “short, believable, and entertaining.” Another customer gives this book 5 stars and says it’s perfect for early readers. There are tons of adventures to discover, and each tale takes you on a unique mind trip to experience each of the different cat’s adventures. While some of the stories are short and sweet, others incorporate pieces of true history and have parallels from the cat’s perspective to a human’s perspective.

According to reviewers, one child said that the stories were sad, while another reported that they were a little boring.

Cat Diaries: Secret Writings of the MEOW Society by Betsy Byars (Author), Betsy Duffy (Author), Laurie Myers (Author), Erik Brooks (Illustrator)

Best for 7 – 10-Year-Olds

Cat Diaries: Secret Writings of the Meow Society

• Collection of charming short stories for kids who love cats
• Best for seven to 10-year-olds 
• 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon

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4. Best for Preschool Prep: They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel

They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel is available in hardcover, Kindle, and audio formats and is described as being both simple and ingenious. It explores curiosity, imagination, and observation. The message is that perspective ultimately shapes what you see. It’s best for children between two and five years old and it has 44 pages. The author is a New York Times bestseller, and this book is his debut as both an author and illustrator.

Customers describe this book as a creative and pensive book that is ideal for children with vast imaginations. The words are described as simple but the joy of reading them comes through all the creative ways that you can express the words on the page. One mom says that her kiddo has a wild imagination, and this book seems to both calm her and bring her back to center. She loves the way she can inflect differently while speaking the words to create a different experience for her daughter.

A couple of verified buyers said that the book was too scary. And a few others said that the writing was lackluster.

Pros and Cons of They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel

Best for Preschool Prep

They All Saw A Cat (Cat Books for Kids, Beginning Reading Books, Preschool Prep Books)

• New York Times bestseller
• Best for children between two and five years old
• Creative and pensive book ideal for children with vast imaginations

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5. Best Activity Book: I Love Cats! Activity Book by Walter Foster Creative Team (Author), Diana Fisher (Illustrator)

With the I Love Cats! Activity Book, your child can explore trivia, step-by-step drawing projects, and more than 100 stickers! Facebook also incorporates fun facts, providing hours of cat-inspired fun for your kiddos. With step-by-step drawing projects, your kids can learn how to draw a variety of different cat breeds. They’ll increase their knowledge with some fun fact trivia cards, and they’ll even be able to answer some cat diary prompts. They learn how to make a cat toy too! And so much more.

Some of the cats that your kids will learn to draw include a Persian, Maine coon, Abyssinian kitten, British shorthair, Turkish angora, Manx, and several more. As they engage in the fun drawing activity, they can also learn more about the breed they’re creating. You can turn this activity book into a full-on craft time with your kids by bringing out some scissors and glue to start some of the cat crafts. There are some kitty-themed games as well including a crossword puzzle, word search, and a maze. They can create paper cat toys, use the sticker sheets, and this book even includes postcards that they can mail to their friends.

This paperback book is recommended for children between six to eight years of age and the activity book has a total of 112 pages. On average, this book is rated 4.7 out of five stars. Customers say this is great if you happen to have a kid who loves cats. One mom says she’s not quite a cat person but her six-year-old daughter surely is. She comments that it’s amazing how there’s so much to do and she knows her daughter will have hours and upon hours of enjoyment with all the activities provided in this book.

Pros and Cons of I Love Cats! Activity Book by Walter Foster Creative Team (Author), Diana Fisher (Illustrator)

Best Activity Book

I Love Cats! Activity Book: Meow-velous stickers, trivia, step-by-step drawing projects, and more for the cat lover in you! (I Love Activity Books)

• Activity book filled with stickers and fun facts
• Teach your kid how to draw various breeds, from British Shorthairs to Maine Coons
• Also includes a crossword puzzle, word search, and a maze

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6. Best Lesson-Inspired: Camp Cattitude by Kate Giles (Author), Ben Chandler (Illustrator), Enile Reiner (Illustrator)

Camp Cattitude is a paperback book that’s about a cat named Meowmoiselle who has been running Camp Cattitude. She’s been in charge of training some of the most famous cats known worldwide including some Expert Shedders and Olympian Nappers. One day, Meowmoiselle meets Snug, a kitty that she doesn’t seem to be able to teach. She’s totally stumped and wonders how this cat can possibly learn to be successful in the cat world without having the right cattitude.

The book is layered with humor and entertaining pictures that are sure to make your kindergarteners or early elementary children giggle along with this fun story. The vocabulary is playful and descriptive and helps to encourage language development as your child explores each page. It’s recommended for children between four and eight years old and it’s only 24 pages long.

This cat book has earned 4.9 out of five stars. Customers love that it’s a book that tells a story about kindness with tons of comedy included. Parents are calling it a total gem that offers chuckles to both children and the adults who help them read it while also demonstrating the lesson of staying true to yourself. Parents who are avid readers know that certain children’s books are written in a way that is more captivating than others. This book is one of those that knows how to capture and keep a young one’s attention.

Pros and Cons of Camp Cattitude by Kate Giles (Author), Ben Chandler (Illustrator), Enile Reiner (Illustrator)

Best Lesson-Inspired

Camp Cattitude

• Layered with gentle humor and entertaining pictures elementary schoolers and kindergarteners will love
• Vocabulary is playful and descriptive and helps to encourage language development
• 4.9 out of five stars on Amazon

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How to Choose the Right Children’s Book About Cats

When it comes to finding cat books for children, there’s really no wrong choice. Ultimately, it’s about your child’s reading level and the type of story you’d like your child to read. We selected the best overall book because it provides a practical purpose regarding cats and kittens for your children. Kittens, especially, are so much like children needing care, support, and guidance, and sometimes, when you combine these two sweet babes, you put each in a precarious situation. Kittens want to be playful, but they also have really sharp claws and, of course, babies and toddlers want to be playful, but they don’t yet understand the gravity of their actions.

With a book like The Everything Book of Cats and Kittens, you can begin educating your child about what it means to have a cat as a pet. They learn about cat body language and that also means exploring boundaries. Instead of grabbing at a cat or pulling at their fur, they can learn to respect and engage with kitties in the home in a way that prevents injury for both. If you’ve already had a cat in your home before bringing a child in, usually cats are quite accepting of the new human in their lives. However, they can certainly become confused if the toddler or baby starts injuring them.

A book like the best overall we highlighted in this list is really helpful in creating a baseline understanding for kiddos so that they recognize that cats aren’t toys, rather they become a part of the family. For babies, you, as parents, make the decision about the type of literature you want them to learn and enjoy. Having a sturdy book that allows your child to engage with those lift-a-flap pages is a wonderful way to create engagement with your little one while also teaching them about the lovely world of kittens. For some older children, they want more of a storyline. Then, you can explore books like The Secret Writings of the Meow Society, where your kiddo gets tons of short stories that are engaging and fun with colorful illustrations to go along with them.

Some books are geared more toward assisting with language development, lesson learning, and piquing imagination. If you’re ready to prep your kiddo for preschool, then you’ll want to incorporate a book into their library that helps them access those different parts of their imaginations. You can explore the rhyming text and the different concepts presented and challenge your child to go just a little bit further. If you’re just looking to have tons of fun with your kids, then an activity book is definitely the way to go. This type of book will have you engaged with your kids and will bring out the child in you too!

You’re never too old to enjoy those arts and crafts projects with your children. These types of games and fact-finding activities can be not just an incredible bonding experience with you and your kids, but they can also help to destress you because we know it is not easy being a parent. Raising little ones takes so much patience and presence and when you engage with them using an activity book, you can enjoy the stress-relieving benefits of doing something totally different that utilizes your right brain much more than your left.

The final book that we highlighted in this list is Camp Cattitude, which is a book all about lessons. It is so hard to raise children in a world that demands for them to meet a certain ideal. To keep them grounded in who they are and proud of who they are, a book like this is ultra-important. You can tell them until you’re blue in the face that they are perfect just the way they are, but children also need that kind of reinforcing lesson from external teachings. Those lessons can come through with a book like this that reminds them just how important it is for children to step into the uniqueness of their own personalities and celebrate that they are not just a carbon copy of the current trends.