Charlie and the Christmas Kitty

     Stories that take children on an adventure that they perhaps may never get a chance to experience in life are those that I am drawn to, both as a mother as well as an elementary school librarian. To see the joy in my child’s as well as my students faces when I share a story with them that they will learn something new brings me great pleasure, which I experienced when I shared Charlie and the Christmas Kitty, the Ree (well-known blogger and Food Network's 'Pioneer Woman') Drummond’s delightful follow up to her New York Times best-selling picture book, Charlie the Ranch Dog.

      Our tale quickly transports us back out to the Drummond’s Oklahoma ranch, where Charlie, the helpful basset hound’s idyllic life as chief ranch hand and occasional squirrel chaser is quickly turned upside down by the arrival of a new baby kitten. As Charlie soon tries, to no success, in getting the kitten to go away (“Maybe if I take a nice, long nap, it’ll go away”), he realizes that after the little kitten helps to make his back feel better from a hard day’s work on the ranch by scratching his fur, maybe this little addition to the family won’t be so bad after all. With Diane de Groat’s colorfully detailed illustrations, and Drummond’s cheerful prose, this delightful storybook is destined to become a great addition to the list of holiday tales that I will look forward to sharing with both my family as well as my students every year.

Charlie and the Christmas Kitty (2012)

Written by Ree Drummond & Illustrated by Diane deGroat

Retails for: $17.99 (Hardcover)

Ages 4 thru 8

ISBN: 978-0-06-199657-3

Publisher: Harper Collins

Website: www.harpercollins.com