I was excited to read this book when I first saw it listed as a dARC choice on NetGalley and looked forward to reading it even more after reading the table of contents. The number of pages caused me to wonder if my 4th and 5th graders would put that much time into reading a non-fiction book, but I knew if National Geographic was publishing it, the photographs would be outstanding and might keep students engaged. Unfortunately, the advance reader copy did not translate well into digital form and photographs were sliced, didn’t align with text, etc. In fact, word and picture alignment was so poor throughout my electronic copy that I didn’t make it too far into the book before I moved on to something else. However, the topics covered and the credentials of the author still leave me intrigued and I will add it to my library consideration list and will research it further when the book is released in its final form, hence my 3 star rating.

First of all, thanks to NetGalley for approving my request and sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.

What can I say? I've always been a cat-person.
I live in the country so I've seen my fair share of strays in my front yard looking for something to eat and some of them were actually friendly. Most of them though were scared of humans.
But I had two cats living inside my house - and now I have the third one since my previous beloved ones passed away. So I basically know how to speak cat - I know when Alaska is angry or she wants to play, when she is in a mood for cuddles or she gets annoyed and she wants me to remove my hand.

This book is suitable for young readers or for someone who's thinking about adopting a cat - especially a kitten, if you wanna try to train him/her. But you have to remember that every cat has its own personality and you don't have to feel bad if your cat isn't the portrait of the perfect cuddling pet - she/he still love you.
You'll learn to to read their body language from whiskers to ears, from eyes to tail. You'll learn all the different sounds they make so it'll be easier for you to understand them.

Still, I learned something new that I didn't know before - I learned what it means when Alaska rubs her nose on my wrist while I'm feeding her.

Also, there are tons of beautiful picture inside so I recommend it.

Easy 5 star as it's cat related and I love anything cats. Great read for a younger audience obviously but still enjoyed it at my reading level.

Fun and simple, great for those kiddos who really love all animals as well as those who love cats in particular. I like the information on training that is included!

Cuddly educational information
A great book by Nat Geo kids with fabulous photographs, in an attractive, educational and high quality format. The authors express their most human side and great experience in this book. They show a genuine interest in educating us about cats to provide them with greater well-being, while we can more fully enjoy their company and interact more adequately with neighboring cats, strays and feral cats.
Even though I have rescued orphan kittens and adopted them for some years, much information about this book surprised me since it was unknown to me and my relationship has improved with my furry family.
I recommend this book whose content is excellent, friendly for everyone and has many Dr Gary's Vet Tips. There is no doubt that the correct information generates a change in consciousness, allows us to improve the welfare of our lives and that of our beloved companion animals.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Who better to review a book on how to speak cat than a cat. *Grins benignly*. So it is with great pleasure that I pronounce this an adequate book on the science and art of communicating with us felines. Of course, we felines require no such books to tell us how to talk to humans. *Snorts*
As if...
The book comes from National Geographic and like the other products from that esteemed source, it is full of interesting details and knowledge. It admits early on that we of the feline purrsuasion have been communicating with you humans for over 3000 years with only a few minor glitches. The Egyptians were the most astute as they worshipped us as gods but we have been your c0mpanions despite the hard wiring that prevents us from being subserviant like dogs.
Anything that helps the next generation to revere and admire us earns praise in my estimation.
I give it five purrs and two paws up.

I'm sure that in the flesh, so to speak, this book would be very helpful, and full of very cute pictures of cats. However, as other readers have said, the Kindle conversion leaves it all but unreadable. It's a shame, I'd have loved to read it, but I just couldn't manage it.


Receiving an ARC did not alter my review in any way.

I picked this up from Netgalley because cats. Always cats. I really didn't expect to find anything in here that I didn't already know after being a cat owner for over 2/3 of my life. I really just wanted to see pictures of adorable kitties. Well, turns out that there was a lot of interesting information in this little book! Information about cats as a species in general, but also about certain types of cats and where they come from. It was really cool to get to understand some of my own cat's actions better and realize some things about past experiences with previous cat pets. The only reason I docked a star from this is that Kindle edition is seriously awful. Either that or it is just the review edition I received from Netgalley. The pictures weren't complete and sometimes were cut off apart and spread across multiple pages. There were also many times where sentences were cut off and didn't pick back up again until the middle of another section. So you essentially always needed to remember all the unfinished sentences you read so that when a random sentence that's started in the middle shows up later on, you can finish up the old ones.

So, really, if you want to read this, I would definitely suggest picking up a physical copy. Not only will you get more out of the information, because it will all be complete and in the right order, but you will also get to actually enjoy the gorgeous pictures of the different types of cats.

Received via Netgalley and reviewed of my own accord.

As a family of catlovers and an owner of 2 cats, this was a lot of fun for my whole family to read and look at. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves cats.

Loved reading this book. There are so many great pictures of cats and teaches you a lot of things about their behaviour and how to interpret their actions. I believe this would definitely be useful to understand your own cat better. Would recommend to cat lovers and animal lovers alike!

This was pretty cute and informative. I think the intended audience would like this a lot more than me just because I found most the information uninteresting at times and nothing new. But I do think kids would enjoy this.

I found this book insightful and useful since my family is planning to get a cat, plus it was just the right amount of education and entertainment, so I'm letting my younger brother read it as well. He loves animals and I think this would be perfect for him!

Great book and everything, I learnt about things about my cat I didn't know before but the formatting was awful for Kindle apps and such.

I adore cats, and c'mon who doesn't enjoy seeing cute pictures and reading about these little balls of fur?!
What i liked:
-fun facts, there's some i didn't even knew about!
-DIY toys
-cute pictures or "memes"
If you're a cat lover like me, or are planning to adopt one this is definitely a great read for you! Very helpful :)

this book was super cute and very interesting. As a cat lover i learned so much about cats, breeds and their behavior. looking to use some of what i learned with my cat

Informative, well-written, and fun. The only downside was the formatting for the PDF, as it made the text difficult to follow at points and cut up the photos. However, I will definitely bring a physical copy of this book home for my kindergartner sometime soon so that we can read it together.

How to Speak Cat might be marketed as a being for younger readers, but I actually think it’s one of the best books you could pick up to learn about cat care and cat behaviour.
I should have expected National Geographic to put together an excellent guide: they definitely did. Anybody who’s been around cats will know quite a bit of the information already, but what I loved best was that the author took all the theories that are often stated as fact, and questioned them. I learnt more about cats from this than any other “how to” sort of book I’ve read on the subject.
A note, however: DO NOT get this in ebook form! The formatting is – predictably – a mess. The pictures are grey and broken up over a few pages. Some of the text, which I guess is a different colour in the paper version, is in a very light, nearly unreadable shade.
That said, I’d recommend this.

Meow-velous!

As soon as I saw the cover I knew I had to read this charming book ... and it’s by National Geographic Kids. Double winner! Given that my kitty of three years still bites when she wants attention, I hoped it would help decode her language. Happy to report that it’s done that and much much more.

In this fun and informative guide I learned why my kitty loves to climb high, what her various tail positions mean, and what she wants when she exposes her creamsicle-colored belly. I also learned that cats have more than 55 different poses and what each means, got to test my expertise in a super fun interactive “Kitty Case” section, and learned more about vet care, tips, wacky factoids, and training ideas. Plus there are 100+ gorgeous feline photos to drool over. All in all, I’d say HOW TO SPEAK CAT is simply meow-velous! 5/5

My kitty and I thank HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully meows.

#HowToSpeakCat #NetGalley

Incredibly useful information for both new and experienced cat owners!

As someone who’s grown up with cats in the house I knew a lot of the information in the book, but there were still a couple of things that were new to me! Great book to read if you’re thinking of getting a cat!

I found this book very useful and interesting being owned by a cat. There's a ton of information about the cat behaviour and they are both detailed and accurate.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to HarperCollins and Netgalley for this ARC