This first book in our 12 Days of Children’s Christmas Books is super exciting to share, though it might seem too self-serving. Do oblige and forgive me. I feel that I would be incredibly remiss though to not share about my first fully authored and illustrated book here on my children’s book blog!
Meet my newest book: Ink the Cat’s Christmas by me, Caryn Schafer! I worked on this story and images for about 3 years and was finally able to put it together and get it gorgeously printed here in the UK last December. I love introducing this beloved character to the world!
Ink the Cat first appeared nearly ten years ago in an Inktober challenge. I created him for the daily prompts and he has continued to capture my imagination with ideas for his life, personality and stories. There is an original Ink the Cat story long in the works about his life in an apartment in NYC…; but this Christmas story came together much more smoothly and is now the official first Ink the Cat book in the world. The others will come soon, I hope!
In this tale, Ink the Cat is anticipating a wonderful season as all the Christmas pieces come out in his home. He is very curious about everything and exhausts himself on Christmas Eve, falling asleep while his (unseen) human family sings and parties around him.
Ink’s peaceful nap is disrupted by a surprise visitor and the rest of the night holds many sweet delights for Ink and the reader.
I am so proud of this little book… and little it is! I have a deep love for small and tiny books and I patterned this book after my beloved Beatrix Potter’s style. It fits perfectly in little hands, bags, and even Christmas stockings! It is a limited color palette and the red hardcover holds a little printed surprise, hidden by the lovely dust jacket. I even got to make end papers which I adore!
Thanks for indulging me in sharing this special little book for our first of the 12 Days of Christmas Children’s Books. I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek. There are even better photos of it on my website and if you fancy a copy, grab one there! (international shipping is insane, but I do my best with it. Tip: if you buy two books or four books, you get better shipping due to the weight. So maybe find a friend who wants one too!) I am currently the only place to get copies and they are very wonderfully made completely here in the UK. The printer I used was fantastic and did such great quality. I really hope it looks and feels like the classic story it is. And I hope you love Ink the Cat as much as I do… and stay tuned for his many more adventures!
I’ll be back tomorrow with my next book to share! Thanks for reading along and letting me share a bit of my work too!
Three Books a Night 