Comfy Cozy Cat (Wordless Wednesday)

The Secret Paws Gifts from Cody and I

Hi All! Well, since we didn't get our invite to post on the Secret Paws blog,  we just decided to post here. We sent our packages out I believe the Monday after Thanksgiving (yep for us that's unheard of!)

Also,  those of you who have received gifts from us in the past know that we normally order from places that will wrap for us, (yeah, we can be lazy sometimes lol), BUT NOT THIS YEAR! NOPE! We wrapped our gifts, each and every one of them! (I should say, I wrapped them, Cody didn't feel like helping AT ALL this year MOL).

We hadn't heard from our recipient letting us know they received their package (and they don't blog regularly), soooooo...thankfully last week I went to their Facebook page and asked them. I didn't blow the surprise because the Mom had opened our card and saw it was from us, but they are waiting til Christmas (I think), to open their gifts which is great. Cody and I are just happy/relieved they arrived and weren't stolen by some kitty pirate package snatchers. When we didn't receive an email telling us they arrived we were quite concerned.

Hoping they like their gifts!

Catnapstories: The Adventures of Vince the Cat, A Beautifully Illustrated and Educational Trilogy by Heidi Bryant

Having traveled extensively throughout her life, author Heidi Bryant decided to combine her love of cats, her passion for languages and travel into storytelling. The result? A beautiful, fun and educational trilogy, Catnapstories, that star a darling gray kitty named Vince and are named The Adventures of Vince the Cat.

Go along with Vince (and some other kitties and humans) as they explore the world! You will also learn in the first book how Vince came to live with Heidi (yes, the author is a character in the series!)

The first stop is Paris, and as you would guess, the first book in the series is Vince Goes to Paris. Among many interesting things in this book  is there are actual sentences spoken in the language of the country being featured in the book. The book isn't entirely written in French, but there ARE full sentences printed in French with translations. You will also find words/definitions of French words used in the back of the book. 

See the gray kitty in the picture? That is Vince, in my opinion he shares a striking resemblance to my Cody! I bet Cody would have LOVED to join Vince on his travels. Imagine all that he would have learned! Please take a moment and watch this short videos that follow each book title  and see for yourself how charming the entire series is!




The second stop is India, Vince Discovers the Golden Triangle. 

"This story takes you on a journey to one of the most incredible places in the world; India. 

A vast, beautiful, culturally diverse and ancient land. 

In this adventure Vince visits some of the most famous and beautiful sites. Sampling the local cuisine and meeting endangered animals. He experiences an amazing and colourful Hindu festival, plays elephant polo, and eventually discovers the Golden Triangle."

The third (and we bet not the final stop) is Seville!

Vince Discovers the Wonder of Seville

"This story immerses you into Spanish culture and Castellano - the official language of Spain. 

Set in springtime in the beautiful and historic city of Seville in Andalusia, Spain. Heidi, Vince and Adele rescue a beautiful little kitten from a precarious situation, visit the Plaza de Toros, meet some wonderful new friends and learn to dance flamenco as well as experience many other delights in this wonderful city."

Author Heidi Bryant lives in London and to say she is well-traveled is an understatement! She speaks French, German and Spanish. In 2018 she started learning Italian! What deeply touched me was that Heidi had the idea to write The Adventures of Vince the Cat when she lost her beloved cat Mikki to old age the summer of 2018. As you would expect, Heidi was devastated and in order to keep the memories of Mikki and her other beautiful cats  that she had past and present in the forefront, she decided to write the stories with the cats as the main characters. There is an enormous amount of love that comes through the pages of each book. The love encompasses the countries/cultures being featured, as well as for the cats in the stories.

Heidi hopes that children will love reading these stories many times! She hopes to educate children about other cultures, languages and customs in different countries. The stories are geared for children ages 4 to 11 but in my opinion I would say they are better suited to children ages 7 to 11.

I  LOVE that these books are just slightly larger than the length and width of my entire hand...and are approx 50 something pages each. The size of the books is endearing to me and I think that children will enjoy holding them because the size makes them easy to transport, plus the size is unique.

These "beautifully illustrated stories to inspire the next generation" are sure to inspire the little ones in your life. These would be a marvelous addition to your holiday gift purchases for the younger set. Have no little ones? Gift a neighbor's child, doctor's office, school library, the elementary teachers in your life and more with this lovely trilogy. After all, it is the "season of giving" and how much fun would it be to "pay it forward" especially if you do NOT have children? I am going to gift my series to a special elementary school teacher that I know for her fifth graders.

Click to  purchase The Adventures of Vince the Cat 

You can also find Vince on Facebook and Instagram

Oh and because this is a TRILOGY, Cody and I give this 12 kitty paws up!!!

Ok, so there are five paws there, but you get the idea!

In full disclosure: we were sent the trilogy in exchange for our always honest review. We were not monetarily compensated for this review. A special THANK YOU for being so kind as to ship the entire trilogy across the pond....and...in RECORD TIME!!! Lots of love from Cody and I!