BEAUTIFUL book about a real life heroic cat

[baabaa42]

Hi everyone, I have just finished reading a most wonderful book that I got from Amazon about a real life cat and thought I must share it. It's called Simon Ships Out and tells the story of Simon who was onboard a ship in the 1940's called the HMS Amethyst. Simon won the Dickin Medal for bravery. The book is sooo lovely, gripping, sad - all told from the perspective of Simon. This is a lovely little book, great for kids too. It captures what it must of been like so well. Would be great to see what others think of it.

Added it to my wish list

you won't regret it jayne. a lovely book

Awww, I went to he Animals in War exhibition at the Imperial War Museum a few years ago, and I remember reading about Simon. I wept like a baby.

Thankyou baabaa, will order that as Christmas gift for a cat lover!

This sounds brilliant, and certainly unlike anything I've ever considered reading before. I tend to go for fiction for the most part..

Have added to my Amazon wish list in readiness for Christmas.

Thanks for the heads up baabaa42!

Sounds like a lovely book and the short excerpt I read on amazon was very intriguing, cute and cheeky. Some of it made me laugh and other bits made me cry. Just bought it for my twins for Xmas tho to be honest I may just have to have a sneaky peep and read it when it arrives ;)
Hope I'm not posting this message over and over! It doesn't seem to want to post so I keep trying.

It's on my to buy list. Thank you for the suggestion. Hope I don't cry as much as I did when, as a child, I read Jennie by Paul Gallico. Got it home from Boots library, which really dates things, sat in my bedroom and never stopped crying.

HappydaysArehere wrote:

"as a child, I read Jennie by Paul Gallico"

Oh gosh, I remember having this read to me at primary school back in the 1970s. After that I went out and got my own copy of the book and have that very same copy to this day.

It is my absolute favourite book ever, and I must have read it at least a dozen times. I never tire of this book.

I read it to my two boys (now 19 and 20) when they were little and they enjoyed it alot too.

Waycat, I know only too well that love you can have for a book. Attachments such as you describe are, I feel, stronger when they are formed in our youth. I too have never forgotten Jennie but my greatest passion has always been for Little Women and Good Wives. Those sisters were so real to me and I still have the books I was given as a youngster. I too read them to my girls. My mother also loved them and when her best friend was orphaned my grandmother took her in to live with them. My mother said they used to share a bedroom and talk about the characters late at night. Her friend called my grandmother Marmee.

Ooh that's two new books for me to buy and read

I like the look of Mrs Chippy's Last Expedition - Mrs Chippy was the ship's cat (actually a male!) who went on the Shackleton expedition to the South Pole.

Have a look at Gwen Cooper and her cat Homer. She has written about this amazing blind cat that came into her life.
For laughs. The travelling cat.

I bought a paperback for the kids, flicked thru it and downloaded it for myself from Amazon as I was sure I'd damage the spine. It made me laugh, think and bawl along the way. Very well written and in a kindof cute way so the cat had his own way of talking and the dog was really posh. And behind it all some great observations on life and humans, subtly hidden behind catlike talk. Great photos and illustrations and a clever way to tell a historical incident without making it seem dull. I think it'd be great for adults and also kids who are maybe 10 or 11 upwards. Im sure my twins will love it for xmas. It made me google the cat and it was amazing HOW famous he was!

Oh, and I forgot to add, Bluestocking, Shackleton's cat is even talked about in it too! Brief mention as the sailors are chatting to each other about famous moggies