Rachel Wells’s Alfie the Holiday Cat is a warm, gently funny story for 11 year olds, told by a cat whose whole street packs up for a summer by the sea.<\/p>\n
Alfie is a doorstep cat. That means he has more than one family on Edgar Road in London, and he loves them all. He’s also dad to George, a kitten he adopted, who’s cheeky, excitable and never far from trouble.<\/p>\n
It starts at Christmas. George launches himself at the shiny baubles and nearly brings the whole tree down (on the first morning!). Then Claire has a surprise of her own. Her great aunt has left her a cottage in North Devon, right opposite the beach.<\/p>\n
The catch? It’s shabby, the roof needs work, and doing it up will cost a LOT of money.<\/p>\n
So Claire and her friends Polly and Franceska come up with a plan to share it. The men are talked round over dinner, and come the summer holidays three families (and two cats) are driving off to Seabreeze Cottage in Lynstow for six weeks.<\/p>\n
Alfie is lovely company. He thinks he’s the best planner in any house (his plans do sometimes go a little wrong). He’s soppy about his girlfriend Tiger, fiercely proud of George, and says goodbye to his cat friends as if he’s leaving for ever.<\/p>\n
There’s a sweet thread about Toby too. He was adopted after a hard start, and George sleeps curled up next to him every night because it’s the only way he’ll settle.<\/p>\n
Once they get there, the village isn’t as welcoming as Claire remembers, and there’s a very nasty local cat to deal with.<\/p>\n
One thing to flag before you hand it over. This one was written with grown-ups in mind, even though a cat tells it. A lot of it is adult talk about surveys, shares and who pays for what, usually over a glass of wine. There’s a sad moment when Toby admits he’s scared to ask Santa for anything in case he gets sent away. Alfie also remembers his first owner, who died, and the great aunt had dementia.<\/p>\n
None of it is graphic. But it’s a slower, cosier read than most children’s animal stories, and it suits a reader who likes family life and feelings more than action.<\/p>\n
If they’d like to know how Alfie ended up on Edgar Road in the first place, go back to Alfie the Doorstep Cat. It’s where he sets out alone to find himself a new home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rachel Wells’s Alfie the Holiday Cat is a warm, gently funny story for 11 year olds, told by a cat whose whole street packs up for a summer by the sea. Alfie is a doorstep cat. That means he has more than one family on Edgar Road in London, and he loves them all. He’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12757,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":6768,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Alfie the Doorstep Cat","lr_seo_hook":"Three families, two cats and a tumbledown cottage by the sea for the summer."},"book_tag":[18],"age_group":[28],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[819],"class_list":["post-6769","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-animal-books","age_group-books-for-11-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-rachel-wells"],"yoast_title":"Alfie the Holiday Cat by Rachel Wells | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Three families, two cats and a tumbledown cottage by the sea for the summer. For ages 11+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n