A Purrfect Christmas
About 'A purrfect Christmas'
It’s Christmas Eve when a young kitten is left alone on the deserted streets of the city. She’s hungry and cold. She would like to go to a home of her own. Is she the only one with a holiday wish?
A heartwarming story in which the magic of Christmas results in surprises.
Age: 5+
Written by Ellen DeLange
Illustrated by Caroline Bonne Müller
Story behind the story
For One Christmas we were at a christmas market, when we were almost at the end of the row of stalls, we saw a playpen with two kittens inside. They were adorable. They belonged to the owner of the house where the Christmas market took place. Instead of buying anything for Christmas we spoke with the owner and asked her all about the kittens. We fell in love and two weeks later we took a little ball of fur home. This made me think of the spirit of Christmas, that no one wants to be left alone and that we are all looking for a connection and want to belong. And of course it's the season for miracles. That's why I wrote the story 'A purrfect Christmas’. Although Santa didn't receive a little girl's letter in time, her wish still came true, and a little abandoned kitten found a home in the process, a little miracle for both to mark the spirit of the season.
About the illustrator
Caroline Bonne Müller was born in France and grew up in the Netherlands, where she studied Fashion Design in Amsterdam and worked 14 years as a fashion designer. Her three children were born in Spain and the family lived for four years in Malaysia. Caroline has been fascinated by picture books since she was a child. When she had children, she couldn’t stop buying beautiful illustrated picture books. This is when the seed was planted, and she knew she wanted to illustrate picture books of her own one day! Now she is a published illustrator and living with her family and four stray cats from Malaysia in Switzerland, looking over a lake and mountains!
International publications
"A purrfect christmas' is (will be) available in:
Dutch (2021)
English (2022)
Danish (2022)
Russian (2022)
Reviews
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It's almost Christmas and everyone is rushing home – including all the cats! One small kitten is left alone. There is nothing left for him but to look for a place with food. Looking through several windows, he sees families having a delicious Christmas meal. At the last house he sees a girl crying under the Christmas tree. The kitten cannot find a place and sleeps outside. When he looks at the girl again the next day through the same window, she sees the kitten and runs happily outside: has Santa Claus received her letter after all?
Picture book in A4 format, in which a kitten plays the leading role in a 'girl-with-the-sulfur-stick-like' Christmas story.
The heartwarming, painted illustrations with lots of green and red illustrate Christmas conviviality and togetherness in such a way that the young kitten seems even more lonely.
The text is simple and loving, in which the message 'no one should be alone at Christmas' is clearly felt without being told literally. With a happy ending - to put it 'cats': a perfect Christmas to everyone!
From approx. 5 years and up. Hannelore Rubie NDB Biblion