Brown, Helen. Cleo : how a small black cat helped heal a family, Crows Nest, Sydney : Arena, 2010.

Helen Brown, was a full time feature writer for the Sunday Star Times in Auckland, New Zealand and is a best-selling author.  Brown has written this book based on her experiences of life after terrible tragedy and living with an uppity little kitten called Cleo. This book deals with the complex emotions of grief and how some animals, in particular Cleo can help a family and bring them a sense of hope.  Cleo takes on the healing of the family and distracts them from grieving through her antics and her ability to make them laugh and love again.  This book is rich in wisdom, wit, heart, and healing, a story of a cat with an extraordinary gift for knowing just where she was needed most and will not only appeal to the fans of animal biographies  but also to general biography readers.

There is a second book written by Helen Brown called ‘After Cleo : came Jonah’, which follows on after her first book ‘Cleo’. Also a wonderful read.

Cleo : how a small black cat helped heal a family is on the bestseller list for:- The Times (London) and the New York Times, and is recommended by Library Journal.

 

Hacking, Heather. Historical cats : great cats who have shaped history, London : Hodder, 2003.

 

Author Heather Hacking started to wonder if cats were ruling the world when one night she realised that she was peeling grapes and switching on the electric blanket for her cats.  This book is a light hearted and humorous look at feline domination and the great cats who shaped history. This is an easy read and a witty look at history through cats' eyes, with beautiful colour illustrations and funny black and white cartoons, it will appeal to cat lovers both young and old.

Romp, Julia. The cat who came back for Christmas : how a cat brought a family the gift of love, New York : Penguin, 2012.

 

This book written by single mother Julia Romp, shares her true story about living with her son George, an autistic child who was not diagnosed until he was ten years old.  It wasn’t until a stray black and white cat who they name Ben, comes into their lives that George engages with the cat and his world opens up for the first time and Julia is finally able to reach her son. After three years of progress and many happy times, Ben runs away whilst Julia and George take a rare holiday, and George regresses back into himself. Determined to find their lost cat, she sets out on a mission to get him back, and finally the news comes through of his whereabouts just four days before Christmas, and the family is reunited once more. This is a touching story of a mothers love and devotion to her son and the little cat who formed a close attachment to him.