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Poor cat! All -day long he works for the mean baker and his equally unpleasant wife in the bakery, mixing, baking, chopping, slicing and sweeping while the baker grumbles. Then at night the exhausted cat, without any supper, is expected to catch the mice that run riot in the storeroom. Unfortunately , he is not a particularly successful mouse catcher. Eventually , the poor cat, denied even a name by his miserable owners, becomes thin, sad and weepy and slumps in despair. It is then that the mice take pity on him and concoct a clever plan to help him.

The cunning little mice team up to make pretend mouse tails out of wool while cat sleeps and then cat tricks the baker in to into thinking that he has caught lots of mice during the night. The baker then rewards the cat with treats such as kippers and cream and sardines which the relieved cat then shares with the mice. Everyone is happy! Then one day the supplies run out and our feline hero panics. Can the cheeky little mice come to the rescue again? Polly Simmonds tells the story of the downtrodden cat and his rescuers with humour. The illustrations vary between full -page spreads and a cartoon strip style but are all full of busy detail providing lots to look at and discuss.

This is a jolly tale of triumph over adversity and it’s difficult not to cheer cat and his new found newfound friends on. In addition to being fun to read aloud , I think that the overall look of this book, the slightly subversive storyline and the humour may appeal to slightly older children too.

Thank you to the publishers for supplying this review copy. We also have a review of [[Lulu and the Chocolate Wedding by Posy Simmonds]].

Possibly the most well known and loved picture book cat is of course [[Mog the Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr]] .