The Diary of a Killer Cat (The Killer Cat, 1)

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I am sharing this guided reading resource with you in the hopes that it will save you some bit of time and enhance your guided reading lesson. I know I lose countless hours looking up resources, creating resources and copying resources myself, so if this helps you in any way, then I count that as a small victory for our educating community.

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. 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.

What does ‘woe betide you’ mean? Can you find other examples of older language that isn’t used much any more? Who on earth will be the next victim to arrive through the cat-flap? Can soft-hearted Ellie manage to get her beloved pet to change his wild, wild ways before he ends up in even deeper trouble? 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 hilarious antics of Tuffy and his family are told by the killer cat himself. Teaching Ideas and Resources: English

This is set of guided reading sessions designed to be used alongside The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine. These resources can be used across KS2. Included are 11 sessions of guided reading comprehesion questions. All questions are colour-coded and include:Another writing task that could be initiated in using this book, could be one that involves writing in a different form. Called a diary, this book could be used to trigger an activity that involves writing in the form of a diary. Questions such as: How do you structure a diary? How would you structure yours? Using dates, times? Would you name your diary, and write to them?: are all questions can be posed in the lesson to help children think about the different forms a diary can take in itself. Can soft-hearted Ellie manage to get her beloved pet to change his wild, wild ways before he ends up in even deeper trouble? 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.

Tuffy is grounded for his behaviour. Can you write a new story about a pet who is grounded for their bad behaviour? The book can be used to inspire creative writing. As it is from the perspective of a cat (in first person), children could use this technique to practice writing from different points of view. From the point of view of their own pet to the point of view of Ellie in the book there are a range of different perspectives that can be explored. But I showed them. I was Tuffy the Acting Cat, superstar. How was I supposed to know things would get so . . . messy? There are a number of books in the ‘Killer Cat’ series. Can you write a new story involving the character?

The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine is a book for younger children. It was first published in 1994.