Santa's Snow Cat! Merry Christmas To All, Dec. 2002!

Santa’s Snow Cat
By Sue Stainton
Illustrated by Anne Mortimer
It is 24 pages long.

ISBN # 0-06-623827-7

HarperCollins Publishers / www.harperchildrens.com

This is a delightful book that most surely will become a Christmas Classic! I ordered this book from Children’s Book Of The Month Club and it is well worth the $12.79 I paid for it. The main reason I got the book is I wanted a Christmas Book to read to my daughter Brennah. We love cats and the picture on the front of the book is just so perfectly cattish, I couldn’t resist and I am so glad I didn’t.

The front cover shows a beautiful white cat and the boots and belly of Santa with a tiny bit of a Christmas tree decorated with Santa ornaments in the back ground. The illustrator must have cats. I don’t see how she could have caught the essence of cats if not. Many of the pictures are absolutely beautiful! Imagine looking up into a deep blue night sky with white snowflakes falling down around you. Oh and don’t forget a fat white cat at the bottom of the picture looking up too!

This story starts out with Snow Cat playing and hiding in the snow from his friends the Lemon Moon and the North Wind. It tells how he can only be found in the snow by looking for his jade colored eyes.

Here is a small sample of a paragraph in this book. The North Wind had blown snow into a kaleidoscope of patterns and decked the land with necklaces of icicles, which the big Lemon Moon turned into diamonds.

Snow Cat loves to snuggle. He especially loves to snuggle with Santa; in his long white beard on his fat knee or in one of Santa’s coat pockets. Snow Cat hides in Santa’s pocket on Christmas Eve and is taken on more of a journey than he expects to get. The illustration shows Snow Cat peeping out of Santa’s coat pocket. You can see her big jade colored eyes very well.

As Snow Cat leans over the edge of the sleigh to get a closer look at some bright twinkling lights she FALLS! Oh No! My little girl is six and gets a little anxious at this point even knowing the rest of the story, so if your little one gets upset easily you might want to talk about this before reading. On with the story…..Snow Cat falls down onto the busy streets of New York. The North Wind blows Santa’s words “Snow Cat, Snow Cat, my favorite Cat, I will find you!” She finds herself in a very strange place. She notes there are many different types of shoes everywhere. I think this is also something a child would notice.

Snow Cat can’t see the Lemon Moon or hear the North Wind and she is very alone. She sets out to find her Santa. Suddenly she hears a familiar sound! It’s Santa! She is so excited she runs up to Santa but something is wrong. It’s not HER Santa it’s a Nearly Santa and Snow Cat is very sad.

Snow Cat sneaks into a nice warm house. She sees Nearly Santa’s everywhere; on the TV and all over a large tree with twinkling lights. When one falls from the tree, Snow Cat curls up with it in her paws and goes to sleep. Awwwww!

Does Snow Cat find HER Santa? Will she ever get to play with her friends the Lemon Moon and the North Wind? What is to become of her is he doesn’t?

I will leave the rest of this story for you to find out. So go on, run out and get this book for your little one or even for yourself. You won’t regret it.

NOTE:
This book was printed in 2001 and shows Santa landing on the tallest of tall buildings which anyone in most parts of the world would recognize as the twin towers. The picture is beautiful but I want to point this out as I know many may be upset by seeing it and many children may question why it is there. This book was printed before Sept. 11, 2001 and I do think it belongs in this book, but I am not the one to judge. I didn’t lose any one I knew or loved in this horrible tragedy. I want others to know so they may choose for them selves if this book is something they wish to have. It is truly a lovely book with a delightful story and beautiful pictures.

Have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year! Smiles, Char