Lois Letchford Reads: Killer Cat's Christmas Part 9

11 Mar 2021 · 3 min

Watch on YouTube

2:33

In this YouTube video, Lois Letchford narrates Chapter 9 (“Bear at the Bottom”) of Anne Fine’s children’s book The Killer Cat’s Christmas. The chapter describes a chaotic scene after the mischievous cat Tuffy (also called Tuck Tuffy) dashes into the Christmas tree, scattering glittery ornaments and crushing decorations. Ellie’s parents scramble to clean up glitter‑covered slippers and a vacuum‑laden floor, while Ellie worries the cat might be sent to the cattery. The narrator humorously blames the cat’s antics on the adults’ careless footwork and recounts a repetitive nursery‑rhyme about three kittens losing and finding mittens, which she finds boring and falls asleep during. The reading showcases the playful, slightly exasperated tone of the narrator and highlights themes of responsibility, blame, and the chaos pets can cause during holiday preparations.

Chapters

Hello, I'm Lois Letchford, reading from Anne Fine's The Killer Cat's Christmas. Having children enjoy reading. Chapter 9, Bear at the Bottom. Okay, okay, so no one warned them when they rushed back in. 3 pairs of feet can trample on an awful lot of decorations, Before skidding to a halt. So there were crispy bits of glittery ball everywhere, all trodden in. Ellie's father had to go get the vacuum cleaner, and Ellie's mum spent ages picking tiny silver slivers out of her fluffy slippers Aunt Anne had left on the sofa. Things were quite quiet after that, apart from Ellie's father's constant grumbling. I knew we should have kept Tuffy behind bars. Look at that tree. What a mess. Practically bare at the bottom now and overloaded at the top. It looks quite shocking. You could tell Ellie was worried I might end up in the cattery. She said, we could move some of the glittery balls that Tuck Tuffy couldn't reach down to the lower branches, but Mr Didn't Get His Way was in a giant snit. Why would you do that? Just to help the fiendish little beast smash all the ones he couldn't reach before? Did you hear that? I get accused of everything! All that I did was set them rolling where they got trodden on. Is it my fault if people can't be bothered to look where they're putting their big fat feet? I just gave him the cold cat stare as he went out. Then, sticking my paws over my ears, I tried not to listen to Ellie and Lancelot and Lucilla prancing about all afternoon singing their great long boring nursery rhyme about 3 Prissy little kittens who spent their whole life losing their mittens, and finding their mittens, and getting their mittens dirty, and washing their mittens, and drying their mittens, and— oh, excuse me! Their life's so dull, I fell asleep just telling you about it! Zzzz!