National Black Cat Day – Our favourite books about black cats

Today is National Black Cat Day, which was established to draw attention to the plight of black and black and white cats in rehoming centres round the world. Black cats often take much longer to rehome than their more colourful counterparts, though no one is sure why this is. You can find out more on the Cats Protection website.

Here at UWTSD Swansea libraries, we’re always pleased to find an excuse to share some of our favourite books with you, so here are our top five books featuring black moggies:-

1.       Six Dinner Sid, by Inga Moore – Fabulous picture book in which wandering black cat, Sid, discovers that whilst it’s great to have six meals a day, having a multitude of homes to call your own can come with its drawbacks too!

2.      Winnie the Witch, by Valerie Thomas – Here’s a book you can appreciate on a couple of different levels! Just enjoy the story of Winnie, who tries to change her black cat Wilbur so he’s easy to spot in her dark house, or take a look at the way Scope has used Winnie the Witch to describe the Social Model of Disability (in a nutshell: change the house, not the cat!).

3.      Slinky Malinki, by Lynley Dodd – “blacker than black” Slinky Malinki is a rather winsome creature during the day, but during the night becomes “wicked and fiendish and sly”. This rhyming tale of the cat’s dual life is an absolute delight, whatever your age!

4.      Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat, by Ursula Moray Williams – Gobbolino, the little black cat with blue eyes and one white paw, is supposed to be a witch’s cat, but he’d much rather be a kitchen cat sleeping by the fire all day! Can this magical cat find his perfect home?

5.      The Black Cat, by Edgar Allan Poe – We couldn’t leave out Edgar Allan Poe, the macabre master of the short story! This tale sees our protagonist wracked with guilt over an injury he does to his once beloved pet cat. Things get more and more sinister as the story goes on, so maybe don’t read this one right before bed! It’s perfect for Halloween, though, and is available in various free versions online, and can also be found in the Edgar Allan Poe short story collections which we have available in Townhill Library.

We’re sure Colin, our resident Mount Pleasant black cat, would approve!