Winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2011: Illustrated by the brilliant Jim Field, this is a swashbuckling tale of pirate plunder, derring do and a huge haul of haddock!
When Alfonso the cat hears there’s a boat coming into harbour carrying the largest ever catch of haddock, he hatches a plan. It’s brave! It’s bold! And it involves a ghost pirate ship, some rather gullible fishermen, and cats … LOTS of cats. I was trying to think of a tale about cats to follow The Great Dog Bottom Swap. My wife suggested I write a story about why cats say ‘meow’… CATS AHOY! was the result.
This story was also inspired by living close to the sea in south Devon, a part of England that is home to countless tales of fishermen, smugglers – and of course pirates! Jim’s fabulous pictures were partly based on the Devon fishing village of Clovelly. You can find some of his sketches for CATS AHOY!, along with pictures that inspired them, on his website: www.jimfield.co.uk .
Published by Macmillan in August 2011, Cats Ahoy! was reissued in 2019 with a brand new cover from star illustrator Jim Field.
Also available in Scots Gaelic (Hoigh! Cait!) and Portuguese (Gatos a Bordo!).