The story is written in the first person. Can you write a story from somebody else’s point of view? If you like this book, here are some other books you might enjoy - including the further adventures of Tuffy the Killer Cat. It was my birthday. How was I supposed to know it wouldn't be the only party around town on that dark and dreary Halloween night? The comical aspect of this book makes it an extremely useful tool in aiding the development of both children’s reading and writing skills: This book is told from the point of view of Tuffy, a pet cat who drags a dead bird into the house. His owner, a young girl called Ellie is horrified but Tuffy cannot see a problem, "So hang me. I killed the bird. For pity's sake, I'm a cat" says Tuffy. He then brings a dead mouse into the house. Before long, Tuffy brings his next victim, the next door neighbor’s rabbit. And this time Tuffy is in deep trouble, Ellie’s parents are very cross.

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. The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine is a book for younger children. It was first published in 1994. What does ‘woe betide you’ mean? Can you find other examples of older language that isn’t used much any more?Tuffy doesn't feel wanted at home any more. His owners just don't appreciate him. So what if he broke the new TV? Got fur on all Dad's clean clothes? Ate Tinkerbell the kitten's special kitten-food? All accidents! But they're making such a fuss! 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?

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.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. Tuffy knows what he likes. And he doesn't like the 'art' that Ellie's mum brings home from her new classes. So what's a cat to do?

There are a number of books in the ‘Killer Cat’ series. Can you write a new story involving the character?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). Anne Fine was born and educated in the Midlands and now lives in County Durham. She has written numerous highly acclaimed and prize-winning books for children and adults. 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. 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. I’m the English Coordinator at a small little school and I took on the task last year of developing a guided reading programme for KS2 as I noticed this was missing from the school.