1987 book by Cleveland Amory
The Cat Who Came for Christmas is the first book in a trilogy written by Cleveland Amory, an American author who wrote extensively about animal rights. Amory recounts his rescue and adoption of Polar Bear, a cat he featured in two future books. It was first published by Little, Brown and Company in 1987 and then in paperback by Penguin Books in 1988.
Plot summary
Amory, a writer and animal rights activist (but not a cat person), finds a stray cat while walking down an alley one snowy Christmas Eve. Amory takes the cat to his apartment and acclimates him to living indoors.[1] Polar Bear meets a number of Amory's celebrity friends and acquaintances, including Cary Grant, Walter Cronkite, and George C. Scott.[2] Amory also details his animal rights work at the time.
Reception
Kirkus Reviews wrote that the book was "utterly delightful and humorous, and a treasure for anyone who's ever been 'owned by a cat.'"[3]
Publishers Weekly wrote: "Amory offers an entertaining, if precious, re-creation of his first year with Polar Bear (his account of selecting a name takes 20 pages)."[4]
Mary Daniels in Chicago Tribune wrote, "Amory makes seamless transitions between what might otherwise be unrelated material by using Polar Bear as a sub-theme throughout the book."[2]
The first edition was #8 on the New York Times bestseller list on November 29, 1987.[5] It spent 20 weeks on the list.[6] The 1988 paperback edition was #3 on the New York Times bestseller list on October 30, 1988.[7] It reached #1,[8] remaining in that place for 5 weeks.[9] New York Times listed it as the #5 top paperback nonfiction book of 1988.[10] The paperback returned to the New York Times bestseller list in fall 1988 at #3,[11] the next month reaching #1.[12]
Audiobook, sequels, and combined edition
The audiobook is read by Alan Sklar.[13]
The Cat Who Came for Christmas has two sequels:
The three books were published in one volume in 1995 under the title The Compleat Cat.[16]
