A nice, cozy and heartwarming Christmas short stories about a naughty cat and how he changes his ways.
A good story for older children.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

Princess Fuzzypants here: I am not sure what it is about kittens and Christmas trees this year, but this is the second children’s book I read in the last week with a naughty kitty wreaking havoc on a poor defenceless tree. This one has a not so subtle lesson about cause and effect of our actions.
Shadow is a wild cat whose zoomies and antics have his human father on the verge of shipping him off to the SPCA. The final straw seems to be hs destruction of the family Christmas tree. Only the pleas of his young human stay the verdict until after the holidays. Shadow is not malicious. He is simply unthinking so when the humans are all in bed and he is about to attack the tree once more, the tree intervenes magically and shows Shadow the error of his ways.
He transports Shadow to a world where Christmas trees are alive and subject to the same rules of behavior as in the human world. Luckily, he learns the lessons and when he returns home, he is a changed kitten. He learns how his actions hurt the people he loves and promises to respect their feelings in the future.
It might be a teeny bit heavy handed for adults but likely just right for the young ones. I give it four purrs and two paws up.

Combine two things I love (cats and Christmas), and I will read your book!

The Cat in the Christmas Tree is all about crazy cat antics that a cat can get up to when there’re decorations to destroy and there’s food to be eaten (and the cat in this book is a young one).

I’ve personally never experienced a destructive cat at Christmastime (they’ve been more inclined to sleep under the tree than attack it), but I do know one or two who I’m sure would behave like Shadow in this book!

A quick, fun read for the season.

This is a really cute story about a kitten who learns to be good, with the help of a magical Christmas tree - sort of 'A Christmas Carol' but with a cat! I wasn't keen on how horrible the dad in the story was, and I don't think that the message that 'your pets could be sent back to the shelter if they're bad' is really quite appropriate, as this would be an extremely hurtful thing for a parent to do, and the book does not address this. The dad gets no comeuppance, and I'd hate for a kid to think that that behaviour was normal or good parenting! However, it does provide a villain for Shadow's story. Shadow's part of the book is very sweet, and I loved the community of living Christmas trees!

I did feel the writing was a little basic, and with the length of this story, I think it would be pitched a little younger than the suggested audience of 8+. Perhaps a good one for reluctant readers.