The Cat Who Came for Christmas
AuthorCleveland Amory
Audio read byAlan Sklar
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreMemoir
PublisherLittle Brown & Co
Publication date
1987
Media typeHardback, Paperback, & Audio
Pages240 pp
ISBN0-316-03737-0
OCLC15790076
Followed byThe Cat and the Curmudgeon 

The Cat Who Came for Christmas is the first book in a trilogy written by Cleveland Amory, an American author who wrote extensively about animal rights. Amory recounts his rescue and adoption of Polar Bear, a cat he featured in two future books. It was first published by Little, Brown and Company in 1987 and then in paperback by Penguin Books in 1988.

Plot summary

Amory, a writer and animal rights activist (but not a cat person), finds a stray cat while walking down an alley one snowy Christmas Eve. Amory takes the cat to his apartment and acclimates him to living indoors.[1] Polar Bear meets a number of Amory's celebrity friends and acquaintances, including Cary Grant, Walter Cronkite, and George C. Scott.[2] Amory also details his animal rights work at the time.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews wrote that the book was "utterly delightful and humorous, and a treasure for anyone who's ever been 'owned by a cat.'"[3]

Publishers Weekly wrote: "Amory offers an entertaining, if precious, re-creation of his first year with Polar Bear (his account of selecting a name takes 20 pages)."[4]

Mary Daniels in Chicago Tribune wrote, "Amory makes seamless transitions between what might otherwise be unrelated material by using Polar Bear as a sub-theme throughout the book."[2]

The first edition was #8 on the New York Times bestseller list on November 29, 1987.[5] It spent 20 weeks on the list.[6] The 1988 paperback edition was #3 on the New York Times bestseller list on October 30, 1988.[7] It reached #1,[8] remaining in that place for 5 weeks.[9] New York Times listed it as the #5 top paperback nonfiction book of 1988.[10] The paperback returned to the New York Times bestseller list in fall 1988 at #3,[11] the next month reaching #1.[12]

Audiobook, sequels, and combined edition

The audiobook is read by Alan Sklar.[13]

The Cat Who Came for Christmas has two sequels:

  • The Cat and the Curmudgeon. Little, Brown & Company, 1990. ISBN 978-0-517-20861-8[14]
  • The Best Cat Ever. Little, Brown & Company, 1993. ISBN 0-316-03744-3[15]

The three books were published in one volume in 1995 under the title The Compleat Cat.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Amory, Cleveland. (1987). The cat who came for Christmas. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-03737-0. OCLC 15790076.
  2. 1 2 Daniels, Mary (1987-11-26). "A cute cat story softens horrific reality: Tribune books The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory". The Chicago Tribune. p. 3 – via Proquest.
  3. ↑ "The Cat Who Came for Christmas Review". Kirkus Reviews. 1987-09-15. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  4. ↑ "Nonfiction Book Review: The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory". Publishers Weekly. 1987-09-01. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  5. ↑ "The New York Times Book Review: Best Sellers". The New York Times. 1987-11-29. p. BR32 – via Proquest.
  6. ↑ "The New York Times Book Review Best Sellers". The New York Times. 1988-04-10 – via Proquest.
  7. ↑ "Paperback Best Sellers". The New York Times Book Review. 1988-10-30 – via Proquest.
  8. ↑ "Paperback Best Sellers: December 4, 1988". The New York Times Book Review. 1988-12-04 – via Proquest.
  9. ↑ "Paperback Best Sellers". The New York Times Book Review. 1989-01-08 – via Proquest.
  10. ↑ McDowell, Edwin (1989-02-02). "Top Books of 1988: Spies and Physics". The New York Times. p. C24 – via Proquest.
  11. ↑ "Paperback Best Sellers". The New York Times Book Review. 1988-10-30. p. BR46 – via Proquest.
  12. ↑ "Paperback Best Sellers". The New York Times Book Review. 1988-11-20. p. BR58 – via Proquest.
  13. ↑ "The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory Read by Alan Sklar | Audiobook Review". AudioFile Magazine. 2004. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  14. ↑ "The Cat and the Curmudgeon". Publishers Weekly. 1990-10-01. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  15. ↑ "The Best Cat Ever". Kirkus Reviews. 1993-09-01.
  16. ↑ Amory, Cleveland (1995). Cleveland Amory's compleat cat : three volumes in one. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal. ISBN 1-884822-28-2. OCLC 33007844.


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