A Pussycat's Christmas

Originally published in 1949, with artwork by Helen Stone, this feline Christmas story by Margaret Wise Brown - best known for such picture-book classics as Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny - was reprinted in 1994 with new illustrations done by Anne Mortimer. This seems an ideal choice, as Mortimer appears to be the "cat artist" of the day, and has worked on many popular titles featuring kitties, from Sue Stainton's Santa's Snow Cat, to Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat. The Pussycat of this tale witnesses the coming of Christmas, watching as the snowflakes softly fall, Santa's sleigh jingles merrily by, and her people prepare for the big night, decorating the tree and wrapping gifts.

I cannot say, all told, that I was blown away by show more Brown's text, which just felt a little too random to me - less of a story, and more of a series of occurrences - but the artwork was delightful! Mortimer's palette is vivid, and her kitty-cat heroine is all wide-eyed attentiveness, really emphasizing the wonder of Christmas Eve night. I find it difficult to imagine that A Pussycat's Christmas will hold young readers' attention for very long, given the weaknesses of narrative, but fans of Anne Mortimer will undoubtedly derive significant enjoyment from the paintings. show less

(easy, holiday) Christmas is described through pussycat's eyes, ears and nose. What makes this book so delightful is that christmas is not viewed through a material human sense, but in a simple beautiful sense such as the feel of snow on a cold paw, or the colors that reflect in a shattered christmas ball. What a gift to be able to break a subject down into such simplistic yet complex terms. Children should enjoy this anticipatory narrative of Christmas through pussycat's eyes. A good book to read during the holidays. A good conversation would be to talk about Christmas with the children in terms of things besides the material aspect that this holiday can unfortunately assume. It's a shame because there are so many beautiful things show more about this holiday other than how many presents are under the tree. Reading Brown's book reminds you of that. show less

I had mixed feelings about this book. I liked the book because it describes in detail how most children feel all the time around the Christmas holiday. For example, just like the cat loved “the cold, dry,fresh, white, wild, and feathery, powdery snow”, so do children of all ages who get to experience the beauty of the beginning of snowfall. I also liked that they mentioned the cat seeing Santa Claus and his sleigh. I also liked that the author kept the story true to a real cat’s playful nature. The author says “She pounced on everything. And she waited to pounce with shining eyes and switching tail”. The author also mentions “She tore at the tissue paper and pulled the bows off the packages.” I did not like the book show more because I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be in poem form or telling a story. On some pages, the words had a rhyming scheme like a poem but on others it wasn't as clear. show less

In my opinion, the book "A Pussycat's Christmas" is a great book for young readers. This was one of my favorite books as a child and I love it for so many reasons. One thing I like about this book is that it really captures the feeling of the holiday season. It talks about snow, Santa, the smell of the tangerines and Christmas tree, family, and what the tree looked like. The text reads: "...the Christmas tree. It sparkled and glistened with lights, gold and silver and blue, and the light of rubies and emeralds, shining like no tree that any cat had ever seen before." As you can see from this example, the text is also very detailed which is something I liked about this book as well. Another aspects I love about this book is the show more illustrations. They look very realistic and there is so much detail on each page. There is typically a full page illustration on the right, and text on the left with illustrations on both sides in the white space which is also very visually appealing to the reader. Overall I love the feeling this book gives me when I read it and it makes me look forward to all of the amazing things about the holiday season. The big idea of this story is to share with readers a cats adventures on Christmas eve. show less

Just another pretty little book. If you like snow, cats, and/or Christmas (any two), you'll be more likely to like it than if, like me, you just kinda like cats.

It's a cute story and the pictures are exquisite. Really puts one into the spirit of Christmas.

The illustrations are gorgeous but the story is so-so. Pussycat loves snow, and presents, and basically everything Christmas, so she has a lovely time with things on Christmas Eve.