How the Rescued Cats Adventure Series began
Richard Beck rescued animals his whole life. Cats, dogs, birds, anything that needed a hand. His life was cut short at 57 by cancer, and he left behind seventeen cats, asking Christine to carry on caring for them. They were his family.
Caring for seventeen cats costs real money. Food, vet visits, a warm and safe place to live. Christine needed a way to fund that, and she already had thousands of photographs of the cats getting into trouble.
So she built stories around the photographs, one for each cat, and asked author Marilyn J Bakker to help finish them. That is where the Rescued Cats Adventure Series came from.
What makes the books different
Every story is told from the cat's point of view, and every picture is a photograph of the real cat it is about. Children work that out quickly, and it changes how they listen.
- Twenty titles, each one built around the personality of a real cat in Christine's care
- Written for children aged 2 to 7, to be read to them or read by them as their skills allow
- Underlying topics including fear of the dark, what makes a family, stranger danger, listening, bullying and building confidence
- Natural world topics including the monarch butterfly life cycle, honey bees, wetas and growing vegetables
- Language work through repetition, rhyming patterns, alliteration, opposites and speech marks
- Free teaching notes on every book's page in the shop
The two people behind the series
Christine Johnston
Christine is an enthusiastic hobby photographer with a background in business management. She takes every photograph in the books, and her focus is making sure the cats' health and wellbeing are secured for the long run. The cats are seen by the Swanson Vet Clinic in Henderson whenever they need it.
Marilyn J Bakker
Marilyn is a writer and small business owner who began her working life as a primary school teacher. Her other books include two New Zealand adventure novels for young teens, Danger at Devil's Cove and The Mystery of the Missing Artefact, with a third on the way to complete the trilogy.
Where your money goes
All profit from the books, calendars and cards goes straight into the care of the cats. Food, vet bills, bedding, and everything else seventeen cats manage to need.
The books have gone to schools in Fiji, medical centres across Auckland, and classrooms in South Africa, Scotland and Australia. Every one of those sales fed a cat in Auckland.