Bruce the cat's misadventures inspires new kids book series

Sophie Morter, a sixth form college tutor, describes her one-time cat, Bruce, as ‘a bit of a character’ who was ‘always getting herself into scrapes and mischief’.

The mum-of-one has now written a series of books based on Bruce – who’s a girl – and her misadventures, which aims to teach young children about some of the risks her cat just couldn’t get her head around.

The first book in the series, Bruce, was recently published by Amazon, just in time for World Book Day.

College tutor Sophie Morter has realised her life-long literary ambitions (Image: Sophie Morter)

Bruce, which went on general sale on Wednesday, March 6, focuses on fire safety, and tells of the time when the hapless mog accidentally set fire to her tail on a candle.

Sophie says it’s now her two-year-old son’s Noah favourite book, and it’s a struggle trying to get him to choose anything else.

Sophie's son Noah, 2, now only wants to read 'mummy's book' (Image: Sophie Morter)

She said: "Bruce was my cat for years and she had such a big personality. She was a real character.

"The first book is about the time she was cuddled up on the radiator and accidentally set her tail on fire with a candle.

"Writing is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but life just has a habit of getting in the way.

“The more kids books we read, the more I thought, ‘I could do this’.

Sophie (right) has always loved reading, and hopes to inspire the same passion in her son (Image: Sophie Morter)

“The best part of it is I can read it with my son. Now, when I ask him what he wants to read at bedtime, he says ‘mummy’s book’.

“Reading’s always been a big part of my life, and I’ve always wanted it to be a big part of his life too.

“I just thought how nice it would be to sit down with my own child and read my own book to him. Now he wants me to read it again and again.

Bruce was 'always getting into scrapes' (Image: Sophie Morter)

“It’s such an honour when people tell me they’ve read it with their children, and they’ve really enjoyed it too."

Sophie believes the trick to writing children’s books is to trust your intuition and just go with your ideas, however whacky.

She added: “Once the Bruce series are all published, I’ve got another idea. My son has always been obsessed with the hoover. It’s just his favourite thing.

“I’m going to write about Hero Hoover, who’s a hoover by day and a super-hero by night. It’s all about just running with your inspirations.”