My youngest went through a phase where every book had to have a cat on the cover. This went on for months. I was hunting through the library shelves, checking AR levels, trying to find anything that would keep her engaged without putting her to sleep. Cats just have that magic for this age group. They are mysterious enough to be exciting, soft enough to be comforting, and honestly, every kid seems to go through at least one cat-only reading phase. Once I figured out which books actually worked, reading time got a lot easier.
We stumbled across "Who Do You Love?" by Martin Waddell and it became our bedtime favorite for weeks. The story follows a mother cat asking her kitten Holly who she loves, and Holly comes up with the sweetest reasons for each person in her life. My daughter started asking me the same question every night, which honestly was the best part. "Jasmine Green Rescues: A Kitten Called Holly" by Helen Peters was a hit for my older reader who wanted something with more substance. It is about a girl who finds a feral cat and her kittens on a farm, and my kid loved that it had actual adventure and problem-solving, not just cute animals sitting around. For something quicker, "Brown Mouse Gets Some Corn" by Jenny Giles is perfect. The tension between mice trying to get past a cat to grab some corn had my daughter reading it three times in a row. "Kitten (Baby Animals)" by Angela Royston worked great for my animal-obsessed early reader because it has real photographs and follows a kitten through its first year. That one felt like a science book and a storybook combined. We also really enjoyed "Jasper and the Kitten" by Michele Dufresne, about a dog named Jasper who ends up getting a kitten as a new friend. My son could relate because our own dog tolerates our cat in exactly the same way.
These books range from AR level 1.2 up to 4.4, so there is something for different readers in there. The lower level ones like "Brown Mouse Gets Some Corn" are quick reads that build confidence without feeling babyish. The higher ones like "Jasmine Green Rescues" have actual chapters and more going on. Most of them are under one point, which is perfect for this age because kids can finish a book in a sitting or two and feel that satisfying sense of completion. Your child does not need to be reading at grade level to enjoy these, the stories carry kids through even when the words are a little challenging.
Perfect for the kid who is currently wild about cats, or the one who will be next month. Start with your library, most of these are pretty easy to find. If your kid devours all of these, try looking for other animal rescue stories or books about baby animals, because that is usually the next thing they want after cats.