Cat and the Curmudgeon

ANNOTATION

In the heartwarming, uproarious sequel to Amory's bestselling The Cat Who Came for Christmas, the cat named Polar Bear finds that being rich and famous is not all it's cracked up to be.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The hugely popular story of a certain bedraggled white feline and the curmudgeon he adopted one Christmas Eve resumes -- in new tales at once humorous and heartwarming. As Polar Bear shuns the celebrity bestowed on him by the success of The Cat Who Came for Christmas, as his ownee carries the search for Polar Bear's horoscope all the way to America's First Lady, and as romance intrudes and forces Polar Bear to take matters into his own paws, the chronicles of cat and curmudgeon rise to unprecedented heights of hilarity and charm.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Polar Bear the Christmas cat is back, continuing to thwart Amory, his keeper. Featured in the bestselling The Cat Who Came for Christmas , Polar Bear became a celebrity, but refused to act like one. Amory tries to improve the cat's socialization with cat videos (Mews and Feather Report), but Polar Bear is more interested in his fan mail with its gifts of catnip. Amory tries to train himself to train the cat, without result. Visiting Black Beauty Ranch in Texas--the refuge operated by the Fund for Animals--the author recalls the Fund's rescue of the Grand Canyon burros, wild goats of San Clemente Island and wild horses from the Nevada desert. Polar Bear, somehow, behaves when meeting the refugees, including Nim, the chimpanzee trained in sign language. On a later visit to Martha's Vineyard, Amory finds an orphaned white kitten, Polar Star. Pet owners and animal lovers will enjoy these lighthearted tales. BOMC selection. (Sept.)

Library Journal

In this sequel to his best-selling The Cat Who Came for Christmas ( LJ 10/1/87), Amory continues to chat amiably about his feisty cat, Polar Bear. Amory's meandering philosophy and observations are wordy, lacking the crispness of most contemporary writing, although obviously many readers are charmed by this old-fashioned style. The true strength of the book lies in the later chapters, where Amory provides a lucid and precise discussion of animal protection issues, including his fight against animal experimentation, the reasons behind the fur boycott, and the scandal of a San Diego Zoo worker who beat the animals. Some interesting letters from readers are also included. Sure to be popular in public libraries. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/90.-- Carolyn I. Alexander, Technical Information Ctr., Fort Ord, Cal.

School Library Journal