It's Christmastime, and Rotten Ralph is up to no good, as usual. Although his little girl, Sarah, warns him that bad kitties might not get presents, our unrepentant feline anti-hero continues on his way, and when goody-two-shoes Percy joins the picture, things only get worse. Jealous of this other cat, Ralph does everything he can to undermine him, from pulling the ladder out from underneath him, while he is decorating the tree, to stealing his presents. Fortunately, Percy's sojourn is temporary, and Ralph is restored to his rightful place at the center of Sarah's world....

I owned a copy of author Jack Gantos and illustrator Nicole Rubel's Rotten Ralph as a girl, and I read it countless times, enjoying its tale of a thoroughly rotten cat—one with few redeeming characteristics, besides his love for his little girl. I don't recall reading any of the sequels when young, but am slowly getting to them now, as an adult. The second installment of the series, Worse Than Rotten, Ralph, sees our feline temporarily reformed, but here, in Rotten Ralph's Rotten Christmas, we see that any changes for the better were only temporary, and that Rotten Ralph lives up to his name. I found the deadpan humor here enjoyable—Sarah telling Ralph he is "not being very helpful," when he ties Percy to the railway tracks!—and the somewhat trippy vintage artwork fun. Recommended to fans of Rotten Ralph and his adventures. ( )

$9.95