The Cats of Crail: How It All Began by Sarah Rogerson
We welcome Sarah Rogerson to the blog today, sharing more information about The Cats of Crail.
The Cats of Crail: How It All Began
How do you get inspired to write a series of children’s books about five cats who live in a small Scottish fishing village? It helps to live in one—and to have a couple of cats yourself.
When we moved to Crail, we brought our two black cats, Luna and Bee. Luna is Bee’s mother, though only a few months older—proof that vets can be spectacularly wrong when they say a cat is “too young” to be doctored.
One evening we heard a commotion at the cat flap: a brown tabby was trying to get in. After some territorial skirmishes, peace was restored—or so we thought. A few nights later, the tabby reappeared, loudly demanding something. Luna and Bee sat beside an empty food bowl, clearly having sent this emissary to complain. In that moment, the idea for a group of cat friends was born.
Crail, with its cobbled streets, little harbour, and sandy beach, made the perfect setting. I imagined Luna and Bee, joined by Ollie, a mischievous youngster, Max, and Misty, an older, wise grey cat inspired by a pet we once had.
I wrote the stories to be read aloud to young children. As the mother of four daughters and a former teacher, I’ve always valued the power of reading together. The cats in the stories are kind, cooperative, and loyal—values worth nurturing early. Reading aloud not only helps children bond with adults, it builds listening, rhythm, and memory.
The rhythm of English lends itself beautifully to short, simple rhyming couplets. The Cats of Crail stories aren’t Shakespeare, but they have a gentle musicality that makes them easy for new readers to follow and remember.
Writing the stories turned out to be the easy part. Illustrating them was another matter. Enter my inventive husband, Mark, who has introduced me to the magic of Adobe Photoshop. We combined photos of real Crail and our real cats with digitally created cats, placing them on the harbour, the beach, and in nearby fields. A pastel filter gave the pictures a soft, storybook quality—a kind of parallel Crail where the sun always shines (except during the occasional storybook storm).
As the series grew, so did the cast. Charlie the seagull began as a food thief but soon became an ally, helping the cats find fish. Finn the dolphin joined after I’d seen dolphins playing in the Firth of Forth. Then came Robbie, a red cat with a bad temper, and a family of hungry church mice who need help at Christmas.
The Cats of Crail has become more than a series—it’s a celebration of friendship, imagination, and small kindnesses. The stories remind children (and adults) that teamwork and empathy make every adventure brighter. And in our slightly sunnier version of Crail, there’s always room for one more friend.
Sarah Rogerson
Little Lost Tide
A Cats of Crail Story
Also available in the series:
Bee at Sea; Charlie the Seagull;
Hide and Seek; The Parcel; The Stray
by Sarah Rogerson
www.catsofcrail.com
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Federation.
