Sue Hartga

Sue is an artist and consultant in Neurodiversity. She works at the University of Cambridge supporting students with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia , ADHD and Autism. Trained in Fine Art, Sue focuses on photography and printmaking. She’s also Mum to two daughters and a Nana to a Grandaughter.
Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore Published by Simon and Schuster

This is one of younger daughter’s favourite books from childhood. She told me so only today and today I also read it to our granddaughter. Although it features a black cat, it’s a story of community and talking to each other which seems particularly appropriate for the times.

Sid appears to be a very lucky black cat. He manages to get six dinners a day from six houses in his street. None of the neighbours talk to each other so they all believe he is their cat, until one day Sid gets sick. The unfortunate cat goes to the vet six times and has to have six lots of medicine. The vet becomes suspicious. How could six identical cats be sick? It’s in this way that the ‘owners’ find out and get together to agree one meal a day. But Sid likes having six dinners, so he moves to another street. This time the neighbours talk to each other and realise what he’s trying to do. Nevertheless they don’t mind.

Beautifully illustrated this A4 sized colourful picture book has some text so it would be suitable for a toddler but also for an older child who could read along. I think adults would enjoy it too as there’s lots to talk about which would stimulate conversations.