Mac the cat, who first appeared in author Margaret Forrester's children's novel, The Cat Who Decided: The Almost True Story of an Edinburgh Cat, and then in his debut picture-book, My Cat Mac, returns in this third adventure (and second picture-book). As his family prepare for Christmas, Mac and his little girl Catriona find themselves in a bit of trouble, Catriona because she peeked at her gift beforehand, tried on the ring her parents got for her, and then promptly lost it; and Mac because of his desire to climb the Christmas tree and retrieve the "star" at its top. After some initial contretemps, all is happily resolved, and the happy spirit of Christmas restored...

I enjoyed Mac's Christmas Star quite a bit, and am happy that my library was able to track down a copy, through inter-library loan. The story reminded me a bit of Judith Kerr's Mog's Christmas, which also features a kitty's interaction with her family at the holidays, although Forrester's tale didn't feel at all derivative. The gentle sense of humor, and the feeling of family love to be found in the text is ably captured by illustrator Sandra Klaassen (who also worked on My Cat Mac) in her artwork. Mac himself is adorable, and I wanted to reach into the story and give him some scritches. All in all, a sweet Christmas picture-book, one I would recommend to young cat lovers in general, and to those readers who have enjoyed other tales of this feline character. ( )