Six Dinner Sid

Story

Sid is a cat with six owners, six names, and most importantly, six different dinners! This charming and sneaky pet loves his indulgent lifestyle, until one day he is found out…

Why we chose it

A very popular story with children and cat lovers. Sid is one of the boldest and cheekiest of the many picture book cats.

Where it came from

Inga Moore (1945 – present) is an Anglo-Australian author and illustrator of children’s books. As a child, she was very imaginative and drew all the time, illustrating her own stories but also her schoolbooks and homework. After her Latin teacher told her off for her ‘silly drawing’, she sadly stopped making art for a while. Instead of going to art school she worked in lots of boring, unimaginative jobs. But one day, while working in mapmaking, she had to draw some landscapes, and rediscovered her passion. She has also said that reading Father Christmas (1973) by Raymond Briggs was a turning point in her career, as she realised creating a picture book was a wonderful, inspiring thing to do. She began working as an illustrator and returned to England to recapture her childhood memories. During her time living in Hampstead she wrote Six Dinner Sid.

Where it went next

Six Dinner Sid is considered a modern classic in children’s picture books. It has sold over 250,000 copies since it was published, is a Smarties Award winner, and is in the Daily Telegraph’s top 50 children’s books of all time.

Associated stories

In 2010, Moore penned a sequel to the book called Six Dinner Sid: A Highland Adventure. Other picture books that she has both written and illustrated include A House in the Woods (2011) and Captain Cat (2013). She has also illustrated several classics, such as The Wind in the Willows (2000) by Kenneth Grahame, The Secret Garden (2013) by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and The Canterville Ghost (1997) by Oscar Wilde.