• Age: 8 to 12
• Grade: 3 to 7

"Gripping, fast-paced, full of appealingly raw emotion and youthful devotion." -- BOOKLIST

In Billy's small town, stray cats are running wild, and some people want to get rid of them. The school bullies even throw rocks at the poor creatures! So when Billy finds a hurt, starving kitten and sneaks her home, he has to be extra careful to keep her hidden while he nurses her back to health. However precious little Conga is to him, he knows his dad would take her away if he discovered her, cozy and warm in Billy's bedroom! And what about all the other cats? Can Billy and his friends face the bullies, show the town the importance of caring for abandoned animals, and find a safe haven for strays? A soon-to-be-classic animal story by the author of DOG LOST.

I was born in East York in 1948, the daughter of a Canadian soldier and his Dutch war bride. I graduated from the University of Toronto and became a teacher of lots of things, but mostly of art and English. I guess I have taught thousands of Toronto's great kids over the years and they have taught me too.As a child I read widely. I liked all sorts of fairy tales and animal stories by authors like the Brothers Grimm and Thornton Burgess. Maida's Little Shop by Inez Haynes Irwin was also a favourite. I have two children, Katie and Mackenzie, who gave me ideas for stories while they were growing up. Kate had a little plastic guy and I wrote a set of books about this toy from two different perspectives. Sometimes I get ideas from things I do. I like to build sand sculptures on beaches and I wrote a picture book once about finding a dragon shape in the sand. Other ideas seem to fall into my lap when I'm busy with something else. If I don't commit those to paper right away, they vanish. I'd like to do some art for one of my books. Sometimes when I can't sleep, I draw or paint a bit of a scene from one of my stories. Maybe I'll be brave enough to submit these to a publisher one day. I still live in Toronto, in a little bungalow with lots of big maples and a skunk or two. Mackenzie is here with his dog, and my daughter Katie often comes to visit.

Ingrid Lee's profile page

• Short-listed, OLA Silver Birch Award, Fiction
• Commended, Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre

Praise for CAT FOUND"A gripping, fast-paced story full of appealingly raw emotion and youthful devotion....As with DOG LOST, the timeless feel and not-too-intense action should make this another favorite." -- BOOKLIST"There is genuine drama in Billy's predicament and in the plight of the stray cats, and the book raises some needed awareness of the complex problem of stray animal populations." -- BCCBPraise for DOG LOST"Much more than a breathless page-turner. It's a brutally honest novel depicting the world of dogfighting in a wicked light but tempering any scenes of cruelty with an entire community of positive characters. And Lee brings together her winning, motley cast, human and animal, for a wonderfully heart-rousing ending. I loved it." -- Ann M. Martin, author of A DOG'S LIFE"A tough book, a tender book, and one I shan't forget." -- Michael Morpurgo, author of WAR HORSE"A moving, fast-paced tale [that] will appeal to fans of SHILOH." -- KIRKUS REVIEWS

Cat Found