Well, the president has stories written about his dog — and now the Pope has his life story told through the eyes of a …cat. Joseph e Chico goes on sale in Italy this week, and is a fully authorized biography of Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict.
Meanwhile, another first time author has won the Guardian Children’s Fiction prize. She’s “not giving up her day job,” but Jenny Valentine of Wales (rah! Wales!) has won with an unique story of a boy and an old woman — and a friendship beyond the grave. He finds her ashes abandoned in a taxi office. That’s certainly different! Should be an interesting read.
I knew it! I just knew it! When Bede and I were in Rome (2001-honeymoon), we started telling stories about the papal cat, and how, if you looked in the right window, you could see it when the Pope gave his Wednesday morning address. We also had a running stream of stories about Pope Maldemer, the patron saint of people suffering from seasickness (which was ironic, as Pope Maldemer refused to set sail his entire life), but that’s another issue altogether.