The Killer Cat’s Birthday Bash

Anne Fine's The Killer Cat's Birthday Bash is a wickedly funny story for 8 year olds about a cat who's furious that his family would rather throw a Halloween party than celebrate him.

What happens

Tuffy is not a soppy cat. So when Ellie finds a photo of him as a fluffy kitten, he nearly throws up. But underneath it says he was born on 31st October. That means it's nearly his birthday!

Ellie's family have noticed the date too. Only they're planning a big Halloween party for the whole street, and nobody thought to mention it to Tuffy (or to buy him a present).

So Tuffy plans his own party. His cat gang help him hold it in the Fletchers' barn, with the horses invited (they have to be, it's their barn). The one rule? No dogs.

Meanwhile he gets his own back at home. He stares at Ellie's wardrobe with his fur on end, as if there's a ghost inside, until she's too scared to sleep in her room. Guess who ends up on the lumpy spare bed?

Tuffy tells it all himself, and he's brilliant company. He's rude, sarky and completely sure none of it is his fault. You get his opinion on everything in little brackets (Ellie's mum's hair in old photos, horses' knobbly legs, dogs on leads).

There are lots of laughs for grown-ups reading along too. His nicknames for Ellie's dad are a joy. So is the party game of dropping on to sleeping horses from a great height, with bonus points if all four hooves leave the ground.

Of course the dogs find out. And on Halloween night, with the whole street at Ellie's house and a brand-new floodlight on the lawn, things go VERY wrong in a way that's very, very funny.

He's a cat, so he does bring in dead things while he's sulking, but it's one line and played for laughs.

What to read next

If your reader loves Tuffy's grumpy voice, go back to The Diary of a Killer Cat. That's the week of the bird, the mouse and next-door's rabbit, told one day at a time. Ellie is not impressed.