This book "Mrs. McTats and her Houseful of Cats" was written by Alyssa Satin Capucilli with wonderful illustrations by Joan Rankin. The book is designed to help children learn the alphabet as Mrs. McTats keeps having more and more cats come to live with her and she names them in alphabetical order - Amber, Basil, Curly, Dolly etc. Right at the very end a dog comes to live with her and her 25 cats called Zoom!
My daughter particularly liked this book when she was very young.
Our daughter received this book as a Christmas present when she was just learning to read from an aunt. It has lovely rhyming couplets and delightful illustrations for example,
"The cat from Norway
Got stuck in the doorway"
and
"The cat from Greece
Joined the Police".
Another favourite used to be "The Cat in the Hat" and all things skullduggery that he got up to!
Then there are all the books about Mog by Judith Kerr. "Mog's Christmas" was and still is a particular favourite. Mog's nose is put out of joint when the family start to celebrate Christmas. Mog is frightened when the Christmas tree is brought home as "Trees don't walk. Trees should stay in one place. Once trees start walking about anything might happen." Mog escapes onto the roof and refuses to come down - until he falls down the chimney! He has to have a bath but then everything turns out lovely as "The tree had stopped walking about and had made itself all pretty and Mog had three boiled eggs and some turkey and a present to unwrap."
This one is all about Halloween and where Meg turns her friends into mice by mistake!
This was my absolute best poem as a child - "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear. It was in an annual that I was given at Christmas one year and I learnt it off by heart over the Christmas period. Of course, it makes no sense - there is no such thing as a runcible spoon - but the rhymes are lovely.
The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"
Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong Tree grows,
And there in a wood a Piggy-Wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
"Dear Pig are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon,
They dance by the light of the moon.
And here is a cat created by Nicky from The Vintage Magpie. She is called Boo and I spoilt our daughter by giving it to her as a special treat at Halloween last year. Boo is a favourite.
That's all for today!
Until next time.
June.
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