book cover

The Cat Mummy

by Jacqueline Wilson, illustrated by Nick Sharratt

Interest age: 8 to 9
Reading age: 8 to 9

Published by Yearling, 2009

  • Classics

About this book

Mabel the cat is very special. She used to belong to Verity's mother, who died when Verity was born. One day Mabel goes missing; Verity searches for her but discovers that the cat has curled up and died at the bottom of her wardrobe.

After she learns at school that the Ancient Egyptians worshipped cats, she decides to mummify Mabel - however, a combination of Verity's odd behaviour, and an increasingly unpleasant smell emanating from her room, begins to arouse the suspicions of Gran, and Verity is very worried that she will not be able to keep her Cat Mummy secret for much longer.

As well as focusing on the trauma of a family pet dying, Wilson also examines the fact that the family never really came to terms with the death of Verity's mother. A deceptively simple tale which explores the issue of bereavement for younger readers.

About the author

Jacqueline Wilson was born in Bath in 1945, and spent her childhood in Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, where she still lives today. She started her writing career as a teenage journalist with D.C. Thompson, writing for the teenage magazine Jackie which was named after her. Today her popular books for children have sold millions of copies and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Jacqueline's books include The Story of Tracy Beaker, which has become a hugely successful BBC TV series; Girls in Love, which together with its two sequels was filmed for ITV television; and Double Act, which she adapted for Channel 4 and which won the Royal TV Society's Best Children's Fiction Award. As the fourth Children's Laureate (2005-2007) she promoted the importance of sharing books, and reading aloud together.

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