Cats can be contrary creatures, but isn’t that why we love them? In Come Down, Cat! Nicholas is worried about his cat – she’s on the roof and won’t come down, even when he climbs up the rickety old ladder to coax her inside. He warns her about the monsters and ghosts that come out at night, but Cat, being a cat, refuses to budge.

Later that night, while Nicholas is safe in bed, he tosses and turns thinking about his poor little pet. And while the ghosts and monsters might not bother her, there is one thing that will have her miaowing for her boy – rain! Will Nicholas be brave enough to overcome the monsters and the ghosts to get her?

This is such a charming picture book from Sonya Hartnett and Lucia Masciullo, the same team who brought us The Boy and The Toy. Hartnett has such a way with words (as her recent Children’s Book Council of Australia award for The Midnight Zoo will attest) and the way in which she describes the things that go bump in the night is just wonderful. Lucia Masciullo’s beautiful illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to a story of bravery and friendship which will have little ones enthralled.

[[holly-pic]] Holly Harper is a children’s bookseller at Readings Carlton where she organises the kids and Young Adult e-newsletters. She also writes books for younger readers under the name