The Castle Cat
We’re tapping our feet impatiently waiting for our new picture book to come back from the printer. It was a hectic couple of weeks as Caroline Smith of Galloway Arts worked on the book design and layout, author Alasdair Hutton confirmed last minute changes and illustrator William Gorman of Will Gorman Art liaised with the printer – J and B Print of Newton Stewart. We’re hoping copies will be back with us by the end of August but the book is available to pre-order on our website shop page. The book has lovely watercolour illustrations by William to accompany the Alasdair’s charming story. A few years ago Alasdair wrote a book called the Tattoo Fox about a fox that lives at Edinburgh Castle. Alasdair has been the ‘Voice’ of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo for more than a quarter of a century so is something of an authority on the subject. The Tattoo Fox (which is published by Luath Press) features a character called the Castle Cat. Owner of Foggie Toddle Books, Jayne Baldwin, had previously worked with Alasdair and William on the picture book Mustard & Pepper, and she had the idea of telling the back story of the Castle Cat but for slightly younger readers.
The story tells of a poor hungry kitten who is living rough in a village, surviving on scraps. When he sees two soldiers in the local fish and chip shop he decides to follow them in the hope of getting a bite to eat. Instead the journey leads him to Edinburgh when the soldiers decide to adopt him as their mascot. But it’s quite a change of lifestyle for the kitten and he wonders if he’ll ever get used to the bustle of busy life in Scotland’s capital city. The book is a lovely picture book suitable for pre and early school age children, but it also makes a wonderful souvenir of Edinburgh Castle as it features many of the famous sights like the One O ‘Clock Gun and the Half Moon Battery with it’s views over the city.
One of the lovely illustrations from The Castle Cat