With its short chapters, simple storyline and appealing illustrations Philomena is just right for children ready to start reading on their own. Little kitten Philomena is leaving her old home to live with the Simpkins family. The Simpkins are nice, she thinks, but why do they say she’s a cat? Philomena is quite convinced she’s a dog. Unfortunately, the more canine her behaviour, the less the Simpkins like it, until Philomena foils a burglary, albeit with the help of next door’s dog. You often find cats seeing off burglars in children’s books, but this is a sweet story with an unobtrusive message about being true to yourself. Young Sophie Simpkins is a wheelchair user, though that’s never specifically mentioned in the text, a nice touch. ~ Andrea Reece
There’s a matching story about Geronimo, Philomena’s dog ‘brother’, and for more fun animal stories see Michael Morpugo and Shoo Rayner’s Mudpuddle Farm books, or The Kitten with No Name by Vivian French.
The delightful follow-up to Geronimo, about a cat with attitude. Once again illustrator, Emily Stanbury, brings her magic touch to this humorous story about a cat who is convinced she has been born into the wrong body. But can she prove it?
Jessie Wall trained as a journalist and once upon a time wrote newspaper articles for a water company, which meant she spent a lot of her time trudging around sewage farms in the pouring rain! She also worked on teenage magazines – most notably Oh Boy! and Photo-Love. She is passionate about animals and tries to combine her love of dogs with her every day working life as a writer.
