4th June Hug Your Cat Day

What fun! If you have a cat that likes to be hugged. There are two of us working in the library at school and we both have or have had cats. My Tonkinese loved being hugged. My co-worker's Ragdolls do not. So if you have a cat you'll know what they prefer. If you don't, your library needs Cat Chat  by Dr Jess French.

In April we had a display of Siamese Cat books and were surprised how popular they were and it got us thinking about how long it has been since we had a cat display. So today's a chance to have a bigger one. What have we got? Where to start? There are so many? Of course everyone has their favourites.

Mine are:

• My Cat Jack by Patricia Casey

• Ginger by Charlotte Voake

• Posy  by Linda Newbery and Catherine Rayner

• My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes by Eve Sutton and Lynley Dodd

• Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore

• The Lighthouse Keeper's Cat by Ronda and David Armitage

• Puss Jekyll and Cat Hyde by Joyce Dunbar and Jill BartonPip

• Cats Sleep Anywhere by Eleanor Farjeon and Ann Mortimer (just love this poem)

Interestingly, I think the best book for a young child who just wants to read for themselves, is The Cat Sat on the Mat by Brian Wildsmith because you can 'read' the pictures once you know what the first page says and when you see a three or four year old discover this it brings such a smile to your face because they are so excited and proud of themselves. Similarly I watched a Kindergarten child read a Flubby title in the library this week and he too was superexcited. My own daughter read the books about Morris by Vivian French as her first independent 'chapter books'. What is it with cat books?

 

The series about cats do get cult followings. There are students who love the picture book series Pete the Cat, Nicky, Mittens, Splat, Slinky Malinki, Old Tom, Cuddles  and Chester. And then once they are reading new series take over like Flubby, Killer Cat, Marshmallow Pie, Binky Space Cat, Squishy McFluff, Scratch Kitten, Magic Kitten, Atticus Claw, Toto the Ninja Cat all those cat and kitten tales by Jenny Dale, Holly Webb and Linda Newbery.

So we'll put out a large number of cat books and see how they go! This Pinterest page has the books that are in the library.