The Birthday Kitten by Enid Blyton #ReadingtheMeow2025 – Literary Potpourri
Today marks the start of #ReadingtheMeow2025 and as always, I have a guest post from my mother to share. She’s gone back to an old favourite author, Enid Blyton but with a book new to me. Here’s her review. My own will appear from tomorrow!
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The lasting popularity of Enid Blyton as a children’s author can perhaps be attributed to her ability to become a child again, to think and feel like one and not look at childhood through a faded lens. The fact that any child would willingly exchange the biggest doll, accessories and all or a prized sailing ship in exchange for one tiny scrap of fur with loving eyes has been highlighted by the author in this and several of her books. If anyone remembers reading The Very Big Secret, in which two children looked after a real live baby on their own, this is a similar tale, only the baby in question is a tiny, bedraggled kitten.
Terry and his twin sister Tessie are soon to be celebrating their ninth birthday, and of course, all their relatives have asked them to list out the gifts they would love. The twins have long wanted a puppy or kitten as a pet but Mummy refuses to get one till the baby is bigger and will not be hurt by pets. So, it’s no use putting what they really want on the list. The big day arrives, and the Postman brings a heap of parcels—a Doll’s crib and bedclothes for Tessie, books, games and other gifts, and a very special gift for Terry from his Dad—a really Big Sailing Ship, which will dwarf all the little boats and ships which the village children sail on the pond.
Of course, there’s a party in the afternoon to which all their friends are invited. And Mummy has baked a fabulous cake with 18 candles. In fact, a little guest says in a surprised tone: “Gracious! Eighteen!” said little Kenneth. “Are you eighteen years old? You don’t look it!”. “Don’t you know your twice times table yet?” said Harry. “Twice times nine are eighteen! The twins are nine today. Baby!” Tessie even wonders how 36 candles will fit on the cake when they actually turn18!
Between breakfast and the birthday party, they manage to finish their chores and run down to the pond to try out the sailing ship. To their delight, it is impressive and sails beautifully. When they are reluctantly planning to wind up the excursion and go home, they hear a splash and spot a cloth bag rapidly sinking in the deep part of the pond, thrown in by a boy who runs away before they recognize him. To their dismay, the bag is moving and there are high-pitched squeaks as if there is something trapped inside. Without a moment’s hesitation, Terry wades into the water and manages to pull out the bag before it sinks into the muddy depths. When they cut it open with a penknife, inside is a tiny white bedraggled kitten, shivering and struggling to breathe.
The two softhearted children rush to Harry’s home as his father is a vet. Unfortunately, the Vet is out, and greedy Harry offers to let them talk to the Kennel maid in exchange for the birthday ship. Terry is in a dilemma. He doesn’t, of course, want to lose the ship, and is also scared of how his father will react, but his first priority is saving the kitten. The Kennel maid instructs them on how to keep the tiny mite warm and feed it milk with a dropper, and so they return home to face another quandary. Where do they hide a kitten from Mummy’s sharp ears and eyes? That too in the short while before the party. To their surprise, the problem is easily solved with the Doll’s crib and bedding forming a perfect bed and the boxroom with a hot-water pipe running through—a perfect warm haven for their new pet and also a way of warming its food.
With loving care, the kitten soon emerges as a beautiful white pedigreed cat with blue eyes but one of her legs is deformed and it is difficult for her to walk straight. Then trouble crops up again as Daddy offers to accompany Terry to the pond and help sail his new ship. What is Terry going to do now? Will their secret be revealed and will they lose their pet?
The Birthday Kitten was first published in 1958 by Lutterworth Press. It has also been included in the 1993 Edition of a volume titled Animal Stories.
Cover and all other images (by Grace Lodge) taken from the Enid Blyton Society Page
