Little Night Cat by Sonja Danowski

Tony and his mum are heading to a grand summer party which is partly a fund raiser for the local animal shelter. Tony has decided he will donate all his precious stuffed animal toys to the raffle.

"The cats and dogs needed food and medicine, and that cost a lot of money."

His mum helps him to pack all of his toys into a huge bag. Mum takes her cello to the fair and while she is setting up Tony visits some of the cats in the shelter. There is a huge grey tomcat who seems to look straight at Tony as he hums a special song composed by his mother called 'Little Night Cat'.  The music for this is included at the back of the book and I am thrilled to have found a video where someone plays this haunting tune. 

At the end of the day the lucky raffle winners head home with all of Tony's stuffed animals. That night, Tony has trouble falling asleep. He misses all of his animal friends and his bed feels so empty. His mother takes down an old suitcase and shows him her own old beloved stuffed cat called Paul. He is looking a little battered but Tony's mum sews on new button eyes and Tony falls asleep cuddling his new friend. 

When Tony arrives home from school the next day there is a wonderful surprise waiting in the hallway. It's Valentine - the huge grey cat from the shelter. Tony and his mum will now be his new family.

A gentle story that children will return to time and time again.  Kirkus Star review

Here are some illustrations from this book:

In preparation for a talk I am doing for IBBY Australia on International Illustrators I wanted to share the work of German illustrator Sonja Danowski here on my blog. This book is available in German, Turkish, Spanish, Chinese, Catalan, Romanian, Greek and Russian. 

Here is an interview with Sonja where she talks about Little Night Cat and shares some of her original sketches. I have also included a couple of quotes from this interview:

In Little Night Cat I combined several aspects that I value and consider important: children, animals and music, generosity and charity, understanding within the family, and also the management of anguish and disappointment.

I wanted to show Tony's joy, courage and petty concerns, and express his mother's sympathy and love; I wanted to make Valentine look like a shy and cuddly cat.

I met Sonja Danowski at the USBBY Conference in Seattle. Prior to the conference I discovered her exquisite art and so it was exciting to meet her in person (fan girl).

One more thing - here is a tiny portion of the scrumptious end papers.

Here are some other books illustrated by Sonja Danowski. In the Garden with Flori is due for publication early in 2022.