This is a humorous book about a cat that kills yet cannot understand why his family are upset with this. He is a ‘cheeky’ kind of character always trying to justify his actions, which the children would like. The illustrations are funny which would be useful in class to keep children engaged. It also has as great sense of sarcasm about it, again useful when introducing the notion of sarcasm as it gives great examples. Who on earth will be the next victim to arrive through the cat-flap? Can soft-hearted Ellie manage to get her beloved pet to change his wild, wild ways before he ends up in even deeper trouble?

The punctuation, repetition and use of various lengths of sentences enable the book to be an easy yet interesting read, and therefore can be used to help children develop their writing skills. Lessons involving an examination of the writing can be followed up with a lesson in which the children are asked to write an account from the point of view of their own pet involving repetition, exclamation marks, speech marks and the use of both long and short sentences. Find all of the words that the author uses to describe how something is said (e.g. asked, muttered, cried). Make a poster to teach other children about good vocabulary to use in their writing. Poor Ellie is horrified when her pet cat, Tuffy, drags a dead bird into the house. But Tuffy can't understand what the fuss is about. Who will be the next victim of Tuffy, the killer cat?This short story is a humorous diary account, written from the point of view of a very naughty and sarcastic ginger cat. The story depicts a casual, child friendly approach to life and death and shows the circle of life from a cats perspective. Throughout the week, Tuffy manages to horrify his owners on a daily basis, by causing chaos in and out of the house. From ruining flower beds, killing birds and even dragging a dead rabbit through the cat flap, Tuffy’s family are beside themselves and cannot understand why he insists on killing things. Tuffy repeatedly justifies his behaviour to the reader, by stating he is a cat and killing is what cats do! Tuffy also seems to try and convince the reader to be on his side, by claiming that ‘it’s practically his job’ and he believes he deserves credit for managing to get the rabbit through the cat flap at all. The twist in the story reveals that Tuffy may not be quite so mischievous after all, which leads to his owners apologising to him and treating him a little more kindly. However, the reader is lead to believe that Tuffy is about to embark on another adventure, as shown by the big cheeky grin on his face in the last illustration of the book. The diary of a killer cat would be suitable to read with children from a 6-9 age range, depending on their reading ability, as I believe they would find it the most comical. It would also be perfect to use with children who have pets (especially cats) as it could spark the conversation of where they go at night when they are able to sneak around the garden and through the streets. Although slightly macabre with its undertones of death throughout, it may be more suitable to use with boys, as they may appreciate the language and humor which seems to be aimed in their direction. I would consider reading this story first before sharing with children, as the content may be less enjoyable depending on your child’s personal experiences.

Though readers often find themselves inadvertently laughing aloud as they read Anne Fine's novels, as she herself admits, "a lot of my work, even for fairly young readers, raises serious social issues. Growing up is a long and confusing business. I try to show that the battle through the chaos is worthwhile and can, at times, be seen as very funny." In 1994, this unique combination of humour and realism inspired the hit movie MRS. DOUBTFIRE, based on Anne's novel MADAME DOUBTFIRE and starring the late comedic genius Robin Williams. Another writing task that could be initiated in using this book, could be one that involves writing in a different form. Called a diary, this book could be used to trigger an activity that involves writing in the form of a diary. Questions such as: How do you structure a diary? How would you structure yours? Using dates, times? Would you name your diary, and write to them?: are all questions can be posed in the lesson to help children think about the different forms a diary can take in itself. What does ‘woe betide you’ mean? Can you find other examples of older language that isn’t used much any more? I took great pleasure in reading this book. Throughout the twists and turns of the cats cheeky comments and actions I had a smile on my face, and I believe that children would thoroughly enjoy reading this book also. The familiar settings of the book causes readers to consider what their own cat (pet) is thinking about their family, and what they could potentially get up to when they go off into the garden and beyond.The book can be used to inspire creative writing. As it is from the perspective of a cat (in first person), children could use this technique to practice writing from different points of view. From the point of view of their own pet to the point of view of Ellie in the book there are a range of different perspectives that can be explored. The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine is a book for younger children. It was first published in 1994. If you like this book, here are some other books you might enjoy - including the further adventures of Tuffy the Killer Cat. Absolutely hilarious, perfect as a family read-aloud. The characters are expertly drawn, and Tuffy's protestations about how it wasn't his fault are just brilliant. Highly recommended. Can soft-hearted Ellie manage to get her beloved pet to change his wild, wild ways before he ends up in even deeper trouble?

Write a diary entry from the point of view of your own (or a friend’s) pet. How does it feel about living with the family? What does it like? What does it dislike? Anne has written more than sixty books for children and young people. Amongst numerous other awards, she is twice winner of both the Carnegie Medal, Britain's most prestigious children's book award, and the Whitbread Award. Twice chosen as Children's Author of the Year in the British Book Awards, Anne Fine was also the first novelist to be honoured as Children's Laureate in the United Kingdom. In 2003, Anne became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an OBE. Her work has been translated into forty five languages. The comical aspect of this book makes it an extremely useful tool in aiding the development of both children’s reading and writing skills: The story is written in the first person. Can you write a story from somebody else’s point of view?Poor Ellie is horrified when Tuffy drags a dead bird into the house. Then a mouse. But Tuffy can't understand what all the fuss is about. The chapters are named after each day of the week. Could you write a story where a different event / paragraph / chapter takes place on a new day?

This book is brilliantly written and had me laughing throughout. Anne Fine manages to give Tuffy a brilliantly cheeky personality, which children and adults alike will fall in love with. It is the first story in a series of four, all of which are as good as this debut. Highly recommended for children, parents and teachers. Because let's face the facts here, Tuffy is able to be such an unrelenting hunter and "killer cat" because Ellie and her family in The Diary of a Killer Cat are shown by Anne Fine as obviously having no qualms whatsoever regarding letting their pet freely and continuously roam outside and with there even being a designated cat door so that Tuffy can freely enter and exit at will. And well, for me personally (and as someone who is increasingly aware of the fact that domestic cats are an invasive species and can be a major threat to and for birds), permitting pet felines to be outside cats or even both outside and inside cats is (at least for me) totally unacceptable and also environmentally problematic behaviour and that at the very least, there should be in The Diary of a Killer Cat more attempts being made to keep Tuffy inside, with me also thinking that Anne Fine as an author and as a person probably seems to think that outside cats are acceptable (with which I beg to differ and that this kind of even makes me, makes my adult self see a bit proverbially red regarding The Diary of a Killer Cat, and that my five star rating for my inner child is lowered to only three stars when my adult reading self thinks about Tuffy being continuously outside in The Diary of a Killer Cat and this all being pretty much considered tolerably unproblematic by Anne Fine). The hilarious antics of Tuffy and his family are told by the killer cat himself. Teaching Ideas and Resources: English Tuffy is grounded for his behaviour. Can you write a new story about a pet who is grounded for their bad behaviour? There are a number of books in the ‘Killer Cat’ series. Can you write a new story involving the character?Okay, okay. So hang me. I killed the bird. For pity's sake, I'm a cat. It's practically my job to go creeping round the garden after sweet little eensy-weensy birdy-pies that can hardly fly from one hedge to another. So what am I supposed to do when one of the poor feathery little flutterballs just about throws itself into my mouth? I mean, it practically landed on my paws. It could have hurt me."