To Be A Cat by Matt Haig (Children's, 9 years +)

February 2012, Bodley Head
342 pages (review copy), Hardback
Review copy

Themes: cats, cat breeds, cat gangs, cat foibles, bullies, losing family, friends helping no matter what, realising what's important in life, gratitude, justice, misunderstandings, a trapped mouse, mildish peril

Summary from Random House Children's Books 

Barney Willow thinks life couldn't get any worse. He's weedy, with sticky-out ears. Horrible Gavin Needle loves tormenting him - Barney has no idea why. And headteacher-from-hell Miss Whipmire seems determined to make every second of Barney's existence a complete misery! Worst of all, Dad has been missing for almost a year, and there's no sign of him ever coming home.

Barney just wants to escape. To find another life... Being a cat, for example. A quiet, lazy cat. Things would be so much easier - right?

Barney's about to discover just how wrong he is. Because he's about to wake up as a cat - and not just any cat. Gavin Needle's cat... 

Nayuleska's thoughts 

It took being changed into a cat for Barney to realise not everything which seems unpleasant is hard to live with, that he had way more blessings than he realised, and he liked being himself most of the time. His realisations at several points in the story made me cry, thus making it a 10/10 read.

You can find out more about Matt on his website. 

Suggested read
For a young girl who has cat powers without turning into a cat read the Pocket Cats books by Kitty Wells. One of my favourites is the ballet themed one: Pocket Cats Dancing Dreams (Isn't the cover adorable!)