Rough gloved hands snatch a kitten away from its mother and the only home it has ever known. Stuffed in a sack, the kitten is dumped alongside a country road. Life is hard and lonely until the kitten finds a welcoming home in a surprising place.

ISBN: 080751151X

A BookSense Best Book of 2003.

Booklist: "This satisfying holiday story begins in a barn, where a kitten lies with its mother. Suddenly a gloved hand tosses the kitten into the woods with the words, 'too many cats.' The kitten must survive on its own. It is attracted to a house, and it gets inside. Santa's milk and cookies are a treat; then the cat knocks down some ornaments and climbs the tree. It's not until Santa arrives that the kitty is rescued and gets a new lease on life as the Jolly Old Elf's 'Christmas Cookie.' Most of the action is predictable (though some children may expect the family to adopt the cat), but the tale is so warm and the art so sweet that the book will immediately put everyone in a holiday mood. Johnson uses plenty of winter whites and midnight blues and candle-lit backgrounds to frame the escapades of this adorable kitten, which pads through a story with a realistic beginning and a fairy-tale end."

Author's Note:

See some of the illustrations at Layne Johnson's site!

This book was inspired by a cat my family met wandering among trees at a Christmas tree farm. That cat belonged to the owners, who told us that many unwanted kittens are dumped alongside their road. This book is dedicated to two wonderful pets we adopted from the Humane Society.