"Tom Kitten's Painting Book" was published in June 1917 with a cover by Potter depicting Tom standing at an easel, paint brush in hand. It was the second of Potter's three painting books for children, following "Peter Rabbit's Painting Book" of 1911 and preceding "Jemima Puddle-Duck's Painting Book" of 1925. The books were composed of pairs of pictures with short, appropriate texts at the foot of each page. When the book was opened, the fully coloured picture on the left page served as a model for the child artist to follow while colouring the outline picture on the right page.