From the winner of the Blue Peter Award, this is a funny, dark and exciting story about what it's like to wake up as a cat!

Carnegie Medal 2013.

"This is a clawed masterpiece ... A book about being comfortable in your own skin rather than someone else's fur" -- Philip Ardagh Guardian "A darkly comic and richly rewarding story ... Haig's book shines with originality - in the clever plot and the wit - and has a strong moral core" -- Martin Chilton Telegraph "I loved To Be A Cat. It's very funny and surprising and somehow the basic concept, which is certainly an unusual one, works brilliantly. I believed every moment ... Miss Whipmire is a villain from hell but the sense of frustration that Barney has in his dealings with her are quite moving actually; it reminds me of many of the frustrations of childhood. And I absolutely love child protagonists who READ!" -- John Boyne "Here is the black comedy that made Matt Haig's Shadow Forest so irresistible" -- Amanda Craig The Times "A terrific yarn with just the right mix of humour, surprise and page-turning peril" Independent on Sunday

Matt Haig's first novel for young readers, Shadow Forest, won the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award and the Nestle Children's Book Prize Gold Award. He is also the author of various adult novels, including the bestsellers The Last Family in England and The Radleys. Reviewers have called his writing 'totally engrossing', 'touching, quirky and macabre' and 'so surprising and strange that it vaults into a realm all of its own'. His books have been translated into 25 languages. He lives in York and is currently writer-in-residence for Booktrust. He assures us he has never, ever been a cat, despite rumours he was once a rather grumpy ginger moggy named Jeffrey.