Tabby McTat

Tabby McTat belongs to busker Fred and the pair is happy as can be. Until that is, McTat meets a lady cat. While he is thus occupied, his master meets with an accident and is carted off to hospital. In vain poor McTat sits on the corner waiting for Fred’s return until his lady friend offers him a home.

Meanwhile, Fred returns to his old patch to find not a sign of his beloved McTat (who by now has become a proud father of three). Despite his blissful home life McTat still dreams of the good old days with Fred. The pair is finally reunited and although McTat should be now happy, he finds he misses his family. What a dilemma! A solution is at hand though, in the shape of McTat junior, Samuel Sprat.

Julia Donaldson’s near faultless rhyme combined with Scheffler’s densely coloured oil pastel illustrations has produced a sure-fire winner. These illustrations, be they full page or sequences of vignettes, are delightfully detailed and, as in the best picture books, show much more of the story than the words tell.