The Cat Who Came for Christmas

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.

This article is about the memoir by Cleveland Amory. For the book series by Lilian Jackson Braun, see The Cat Who...
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 

Plot summary

Amory, a writer and animal rights activist, 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. 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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