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The Twelve Days of Christmas Cats (Hardcover): The Classic Edition
Celebrate the holiday season with Don Daily’s classic The Twelve Days of Christmas Cats, featuring all original illustrations of each of the twelve Christmas Cats in feline fashion. The traditional twelve days of Christmas poem is creatively transformed, with each spread featuring one of the twelve cats with its respective adorable artwork. Siamese, leopards, persians, calico cats and kittens playfully ring in Christmas cheer as they dance across the pages of this heartwarming classic. This classic edition of The Twelve Days of Christmas Cats : First published in 1998, The Twelve Days of Christmas Cats is a beloved picture book with full color illustrations by Don Daily.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
December 23, 2019
This was a very different version of The Twelve for me. I prefer this in classical form but I didn’t realize when I picked this up that it was animals on the cover sporting some of the gifts. Still, I love animals, I would have gone on.
The only reason I gave this four stars is because I didn’t care for a few of the illustrations. That’s just personal taste. I didn’t like 9 ladies dancing, as they were pigs in ballerina costumes. I’m fine with animals taking the place of humans in the story, but this particular thing just didn’t fit for me. Some of the others just didn’t seem right either but they were very good and interesting. Even the one of the pigs dancing was good it just didn’t fit the concept for me closely enough. Still clever.
Still worth checking out.
The only reason I gave this four stars is because I didn’t care for a few of the illustrations. That’s just personal taste. I didn’t like 9 ladies dancing, as they were pigs in ballerina costumes. I’m fine with animals taking the place of humans in the story, but this particular thing just didn’t fit for me. Some of the others just didn’t seem right either but they were very good and interesting. Even the one of the pigs dancing was good it just didn’t fit the concept for me closely enough. Still clever.
Still worth checking out.
December 30, 2024
4 1/2⭐️. Calling all cat lovers! This book has marvelous illustrations of beautiful cats, domestic and wild. The words subbed in for this Christmas song are cute as well. I can’t give it 5 stars because there were no Maine Coon or Domestic Short-haired cats pictured like my two indoor cats, but, oh well!
December 13, 2022
2022 read #96
3 stars! This was a way to get into the Quismas mood! I loved the pictures in this and it was very nostalgic. I feel like I'm cheating on my GR goal when I do this 😭. Next year I am not going to read any books like this was barely any words (novellas count).
3 stars! This was a way to get into the Quismas mood! I loved the pictures in this and it was very nostalgic. I feel like I'm cheating on my GR goal when I do this 😭. Next year I am not going to read any books like this was barely any words (novellas count).
December 15, 2017
The illustrations are gorgeous and creative. A great way to introduce this old chestnut of a carol ... or simply remember all the times you had to sing it as a child!
December 24, 2019
I loved the illustrations, they made the song fun.
November 3, 2015
When I brought this home from the library, my daughter scoffed - Christmas and cats! But when I read it aloud to her, she absolutely loved it! The illustrations are delightful and the words can easily be sung to the well-known Christmas song. I sung one verse to her to see if she knows the song (recently adopted from Taiwan). She didn't but loved hearing the story sung so she asked me to sing it all the way through TWICE!
December 19, 2020
Beautiful illustrations. A nice addition to my collection.
December 22, 2020
Beautiful illustrations. Just beautiful.
November 11, 2023
Very fun, cat themed take on the twelve days of Christmas. Beautiful illustrations, and very well designed for reading out loud.
November 14, 2023
This beautifully illustrated picture book is an excellent adaption of the classic carol, replacing all the traditional gifts with cats of various kinds. Recommended.
November 26, 2023
Fun book for cat lovers! This uses the 12 Days of Chrismas song and replaced the 12 days with different cat related verses. Very creative, great illustrations!
December 27, 2023
Our household loves cats, so this rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas was fun to read.
December 22, 2024
Cuuuute! I love the alliteration 🤣♥️🎄and the illustrations
December 29, 2024
Adorable.
April 4, 2025
Very funny take on the song and beautiful pictures.
February 14, 2014
Another book of beautiful illustrations by Don Daily.
This book is a wonderful collection of pictures that are large enough for larger classroom groups to see when reading a loud. Every student could see the pictures from where they sit because the illustrations are the focal point of the book, not necessarily the text. One draw back to Daily's illustrations is that all of his subjects are animals which could be strange for children. For example, lady pigs don't dress up as dancers and do ballet to the violin played by a mouse. While the illustrations are not necessarily always realistic, they do favor well to explaining the text of the Christmas carol.
The illustrations are also good clues for students to understand new and different words. If they didn't know what a piper was, they'd be able to see the rabbits dressed up as pipers blowing on their pipe to make music. If they didn't know what a calling bird was, you could explain that it is a black bird typically found in Europe. Then you could further explain that Daily chose to draw the birds participating in chimney sweeping over a snow-covered European town.
The illustrations also lend to the teachers being able to discuss the pictures further, teaching the children all the image portrays. For example, the 8 maids-a-milking image is very intricate. It shows 8 cats dressed up in working gowns milking cows. Daily chose cats because the stereotype is that cats like to drink milk, so they would be the natural subjects to milk the cows. The dress that the cats are wearing is typical of the work clothes that a dairy girl would wear. This could also show the students were our milk comes from and could be an extension where you could teach them how we collect milk from cows.
If you read this book to very young children, they would be captivated by the images that Daily created but you could also use the book as a learning extension. Have them practice counting the animals on each page. Have them say the sounds the animals make. Have them repeat after you. Once you read the newest line, go backwards and sing with them the lines before it (as the carol is written) so they can connect the picture again to the lyrics.
While the book does play on fantasy and imagination, it is still a great read-aloud book for large groups where students can not only learn the Christmas carol but also learn new words or concepts and make connections of situations presented in the book to real life.
This book is a wonderful collection of pictures that are large enough for larger classroom groups to see when reading a loud. Every student could see the pictures from where they sit because the illustrations are the focal point of the book, not necessarily the text. One draw back to Daily's illustrations is that all of his subjects are animals which could be strange for children. For example, lady pigs don't dress up as dancers and do ballet to the violin played by a mouse. While the illustrations are not necessarily always realistic, they do favor well to explaining the text of the Christmas carol.
The illustrations are also good clues for students to understand new and different words. If they didn't know what a piper was, they'd be able to see the rabbits dressed up as pipers blowing on their pipe to make music. If they didn't know what a calling bird was, you could explain that it is a black bird typically found in Europe. Then you could further explain that Daily chose to draw the birds participating in chimney sweeping over a snow-covered European town.
The illustrations also lend to the teachers being able to discuss the pictures further, teaching the children all the image portrays. For example, the 8 maids-a-milking image is very intricate. It shows 8 cats dressed up in working gowns milking cows. Daily chose cats because the stereotype is that cats like to drink milk, so they would be the natural subjects to milk the cows. The dress that the cats are wearing is typical of the work clothes that a dairy girl would wear. This could also show the students were our milk comes from and could be an extension where you could teach them how we collect milk from cows.
If you read this book to very young children, they would be captivated by the images that Daily created but you could also use the book as a learning extension. Have them practice counting the animals on each page. Have them say the sounds the animals make. Have them repeat after you. Once you read the newest line, go backwards and sing with them the lines before it (as the carol is written) so they can connect the picture again to the lyrics.
While the book does play on fantasy and imagination, it is still a great read-aloud book for large groups where students can not only learn the Christmas carol but also learn new words or concepts and make connections of situations presented in the book to real life.
August 5, 2016
As the title implies, the story is nothing new - simply the Twelve Days of Christmas. The artwork is really well done. They were magnificent full-page illustrations for every number in the Twelve Days of Christmas. I personally didn't always agree with the illustrations because Daily uses animals to portray even the "eight maids a milking," "nine ladies dancing," "ten lords a leaping," "eleven pipers piping," and "twelve drummers drumming." I guess the Twelve Days of Christmas has always been sort of a romantic song for me and I wouldn't call Daily's artwork romantic. That being said, kids would love looking at these pictures and taking the time to count how many animals are on each page to see if it matched the line of the song.
September 16, 2015
Dammit! What ARE the 12 days of Christmas? I'm pretty sure there are some pipers piping. Or something like that. Yet, no pipers appear in this book. Adults who struggle to remember singing this will be frustrated by numbers 9 and up that don't quite match up to the original. Children will not care at all and be excited to see the back story of the raccoon burgler in every picture. Something for everyone?
December 23, 2014
It was awesome! says my 13 year old. A kitty variation of a familiar holiday tune. I don't think that I sang it very well, but I tried, and the kids all cheered and laughed at the frisky felines adorning each page. A convenient last page featuring one of each kitty also holds the complete carol for the ease of holiday singing around a tree or for relatives. My son enjoyed matching the cat to the lyric on this page. Excellent for any cat lover.
November 25, 2019
We are getting in the Holiday spirits, so I grabbed this for our bedtime read. It’s been on our shelf for awhile, but I don’t remember reading it before.
Definitely would say it is great for a cat lover gift idea. Simple text and great pictures, “retelling” the 12 days of Christmas (you can totally sing it... we did... couldn’t help it after a few pages) so my kiddo rated 5 stars. She’s a fan, says it’s a keeper.
Definitely would say it is great for a cat lover gift idea. Simple text and great pictures, “retelling” the 12 days of Christmas (you can totally sing it... we did... couldn’t help it after a few pages) so my kiddo rated 5 stars. She’s a fan, says it’s a keeper.
December 18, 2015
This story is word for word of the song, however it's the illustrations that make this book. It's more of a picture book versus a storybook. If you enjoy Jan Brett's books then you will enjoy this one as the illustrations are very similar to her style. Bringing some of the nostalgia pictures adults remember as a child themselves, and now can share with the children in their lives.
January 7, 2016
A cute take on the traditional song about the twelve days of Christmas. The book could probably have been improved with different illustrations that were brighter and better represented the rollicking pace of the story.
December 12, 2021
Delightful illustrations with the 12 Days of Christmas carol changed to 12 Cats of Christmas. "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a kitten in a fir tree." And it just gets better. Great for cat lovers of all ages.
January 3, 2022
Meh! I am admittedly not a huge cat fan. Nothing against them, but just not normally my thing. If you like cats, this would likely be more well received. Basically, it is "The Twelve Days of Christmas" rewritten with cats in place for each number.
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January 29, 2010Small size collector book with a few words per page and traditional Christmas illustrations.
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December 3, 2012Beautifully illustrated with jolly animals.
November 4, 2014
Absolutely beautiful!
December 13, 2015
The art in here was quite nice & I like that they didn't stick to just cats from the wild or just domesticated cats. That said, I thought the reading out loud of this was kind of awkward.
November 8, 2016
A kitten's take on the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews