Tabby McTat is Fred the busker’s cat “with a miaow that is loud and strong.” Picture man, cat and guitar yowling in harmony! The latest story, from ‘The Gruffalo’ creators, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is a ‘lost and found’ tale of chance meetings, loss and new discoveries. It has a more realistic story and characters with no monsters, dragons (Room on the Broom) or giants, (Smartest Giant in Town).

Tabby McTat ( a great name for a cat) loves singing with Fred and his guitar, but one day he meets Socks, a beautiful black cat who becomes his wife. In an unfortunate series of events, McTat and Fred lose each other with no obvious way of finding each other again. McTat is taken in by Socks’ owners and discovers that he enjoys home comforts and his new kittens, including one called Samuel Sprat. Samuel Sprat inherits his dad’s singing talent, and eventually becomes Fred’s busking partner.

This story has a darker mood, with a longer, more complicated structure than previous Julia Donaldson books, and is definitely aimed at children of school (or nearly school) age; 4-6 year olds. Axel Scheffler’s drawings are also darker and rougher round the edges, and drawn with more realism; characters have grey hair and wrinkles. But the drawings are beautiful, lively and full of witty details for kids to pick out.

We found the rhyming text not always easy to read aloud, as it doesn’t have a predictable rhythm. Our two-year old enjoyed the pictures and just being read to, but the story is beyond him. My five-year old said “it’s good, it’s fine” and giggled at the mischief that McTat gets up to when he becomes a home cat. There’s also a good opportunity to entertain your kids with some caterwauling and sing McTat and Fred’s song: “meee-ew and the old guitar, how purrrr-fectly happy we are!”

If your kids are veterans of ‘The Gruffalo’ and other Julia Donaldson books, then this story is a natural progression. It’s not as instantly enjoyable as previous stories, but we reckon it’ll grow on you, and will be picked off the shelf regularly.

You can find it on Amazon in the UK here, or from other good book shops, or on Amazon in the US here

Tabby McTat by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is published by Alison Green Books (Scholastic Children’s Books), August 2009.

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