Pete the Cat and the Cookie Catastrophe

by James Dean, Kimberly Dean

It's cookie time with Pete and his friends in this zany picture book from the #1 New York Times bestselling classic series Pete the Cat!

Pete the Cat is baking cookies. And when he sees his friends playing outside, Pete wishes the baking would just hurry up. So, he builds an invention...

BEHOLD! The Cookie-O-Matic! It's cool, it's groovy, it's fantastic!

The machine bakes a lot of cookies--and fast. But what happens when the cookies spin out of control and ROLL out the door? Will Pete catch the cookies before playtime ends?

Find out in this delicious cookie chase story where Pete the Cat is serving up sweets with a side of patience and friendship.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

40 pages, Hardcover

Published September 22, 2026

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

James Dean is the original creator and illustrator of Pete the Cat. He is a self-taught artist originally from Fort Payne, Alabama. His passion for drawing became apparent at a young age, and as a child, you could find James drawing his favorite characters like Snoopy and Yogi Bear.

James earned his degree in electrical engineering from Auburn University and went on to work for Georgia Power for a number of years. Eventually, he was called to pursue his art full- time and began selling his work at art festivals around the Southeast. It was during this time that he began creating paintings and drawing of his cat, Pete.The little blue cat showed up as a character in James’s artwork around 1999 and has been a permanent fixture ever since.

James Dean’s art has been sold in more than ninety galleries and shops across the United States. He has devoted his paintings to Pete the Cat for fifteen years and turned his natural love for cats into his life’s work. James published his first book, The Misadventures of Pete the Cat, a history of his artwork, in 2006, and he illustrated his first self-published children’s book, Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, in 2008. There are now almost 100 published Pete the Cat titles with more coming out all the time. James is humbled every day by the success that this groovy blue cat has brought him. He says positively affecting children’s lives is his number one priority, and he is grateful to have such an amazing audience to work for.

Reviews

[Hannah Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio Children’s for an ALC of this book!

I loved this new Pete the Cat book! James Fouhey does such a great job narrating the Pete the Cat books! It makes it such an immersive experience for kids. I love how James and Kimberly Dean write these characters. They are so easy for kids to understand what problem arises for Pete and his friends and how they can work together to resolve the issue even if it’s being too impatient for your favorite cookie to be made! Pete has his cute catch phrases and I love when my kids can start reading these book themselves and add some fun inflections to the story. The cookie catastrophe is such a cute story, and the artwork is perfect for all of Pete’s baking madness!

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peak Pete: Five Minutes of Cookie Chaos

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio Children’s for providing an advance listening copy.

⭐️ Overall: 5/5
🎧 Audio: 5/5

This was five-ish minutes of pure Pete the Cat joy.

The rhymes are peak Pete: playful and catchy, but they also make sense and actually tell the story. That sounds like a small distinction in a children’s book, but good rhyme can make a story incredibly fun to repeat while bad rhyme can make even a short book feel forced. Here, the rhythm works beautifully.

Pete wants to hurry up his cookie baking so he can go play with his friends, invents the Cookie-O-Matic, and—as one might reasonably expect from a machine called the Cookie-O-Matic—cookie chaos ensues.

What impressed me most about the audiobook was how well the story works without the pictures. The language gives enough concrete action and sequencing that I could easily visualize what was happening as cookies started flying out of control. It never felt like I was listening to half of a picture book or missing an essential part of the joke because I couldn’t see the illustrations.

James Fouhey’s narration captures the familiar Pete rhythm perfectly. It’s energetic without becoming overwhelming, easy to follow, and incredibly replayable. I finished it thinking, I could listen to that again and again.

There’s some nostalgia wrapped up in Pete audiobooks for me because my daughter used to request them at bedtime, but this wasn’t five stars because it reminded me of those nights. It reminded me why these worked so well for bedtime in the first place.

Short, silly, rhythmic, easy to follow, and genuinely fun.

Who Should Listen?

Young Pete the Cat fans, families looking for a very short audiobook with excellent replay value, and kids who enjoy rhyme, silly inventions, and escalating chaos. It also works remarkably well as an audio-only experience, so having the picture book alongside it isn’t necessary to enjoy the story.

[Ciera A · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter absolutely loved Pete the Cat and the Cookie Catastrophe by James and Kimberly Dean! 💙🍪

She’s a huge Pete the Cat fan! When she was in JK, they did a lot of activities involving Pete the Cat, and even though she’s in Grade 1 now, she still loves the books! 💗

We decided to listen to this audiobook at bedtime, and she was so excited! The story kept her engaged and smiling. She thought it was pretty cool getting to listen to one of her favourite characters!

I think the fact that she’s already asked me to get her the actual book says it all! ❤️

James Fouhey did a wonderful job with the narration.

I’m so happy that I got to enjoy this with my daughter… it really was a cute story. 😊

Thank you so much to James and Kimberly Dean, HarperAudio Children’s, and NetGalley for approving me for the ALC! All thoughts and opinions are my own and my daughters of course.

[Amy Hurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first time listening to an audiobook with my kiddo without the accompanying pictures, and honestly, it went surprisingly well! My four-year-old was able to follow along with the story, which I wasn’t sure would happen without the illustrations to help keep his attention. Pete the Cat always seems to have a great message or moral woven into his stories, and I enjoyed this one too. There’s a fun reminder that the easiest way isn’t always the fastest or the best way. Whether my son actually picked up on that lesson is… questionable 😂 But he definitely enjoyed the story!

Perhaps the more important review from my four year old: “I love Pete the Cat. I want a cookie machine.”

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this ARC.

[Lisa Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

One can never go wrong with Pete the Cat. I think this book is great as an audiobook. I actually had this play to a five year old Kindergarten class. None of them had heard an audiobook before. So this was a good way to give them exposure to the audiobook world. When the story was over, I asked if they liked the story. Most said yes, but there were a few that wanted to see pictures. This book was a great way to ask questions and imagine what the cookie machine looked like. I am going to use this book and maybe the art teacher would also use it as a creative way to have them draw how they interpret the book. The common words in all Pete the Cat books like "groovy," was included in the book.
Thanks for allowing me access to this book.

[Mrs. G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pete loves cookies and wants a more efficient way of making them. What will happen when his cookies get out of control?

Join Pete on another fun adventure. The story itself is cute and will entertain littles for a few minutes. The narrator was not our family favorite, but we could see how his voice would be entertaining for younger children.

I would recommend getting a physical copy for classrooms and your favorite elementary schooler. The audio version would be great to have for read along in the classroom, or young readers to follow along with as they learn to read.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperAudio for an audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this latest Pete the Cat story about taking your time! Pete wants to bake cookies fast, so he builds a cookie machine. We usually want to rush things, or find shortcuts. This book shows kids that sometimes that leads to chaos. Sometimes it’s better to enjoy the process- however much time it takes.

This book has all the good things you expect from a Pete the Cat book!

Thanks to HarperChildrens for the review copy.

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and HarperAudio Children's for allowing me to review the audio.

This is another great short Pete the Cat adventure. I listened with my 5yo who wanted to see the pictures that when with it. 😂 This will be another great addition to preschool and kindergarten libraries. My son's prek teacher is a big fan of Pete the Cat so he is familiar with these characters.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

My family loved this! My little one laughed at Pete's silliness. The narrator is fantastic! This would be great to also have the physical copy and read along as well, but you can imagine all of the cookie craziness without the book because the narrator does such a good job!
Thank you NetGalley for this ALC! We really enjoyed it

[Bree Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun book to stress that quick is not always better. This is a topic that I often teach with my PLP students who sometimes like to race to finish a task. The narration is wonderful and my students love rhyming books. It is a cute book that I know my kiddos will love.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Audio Children's for this ALC in exchange for my honest review.

[Lisa Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are so good because Pete is so relatable. Of course Pete is impatient when he has to wait for cookies to bake-- who wouldn't be? And his friends are wonderful. The performance is really cute, too. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this

[Stephanie James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you HarperAudio and James Dean for the ALC!

Pete the Cat will always have a place in this teacher's heart. This audio was cute and stayed true to all things Pete the Cat.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A grim parable about the dangers of AI and the urgent need to pace the frontier, or as Pete says, "take it slow." Important message for kids to hear!

[ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love you pete the cat

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pete builds a cookie machine to help him finish his baking project, but learns the 'quick' way isn't always the best way, and can wind up causing more problems.