Most Famous Cats in Literature

How many readers through the years have been slightly frightened, right along with Alice, of the grin without its cat? The Cheshire Cat is one of the most creative and memorable characters in literature, even in the midst of all the other wacky characters in Alice in Wonderland.

Hermione Granger's fluffy orange cat in the Harry Potter series, Crookshanks has become one of the most famous cats in literature in the past few years by virtue of the intense popularity of these books (and the movies based on them).

That sly, mischievous, smiling cat from Dr. Seuss' classic tale, the Cat in the Hat has delighted children everywhere for many years and will continue to do so for years to come.

This cat is found in Beatrix Potter stories.

The eponymous character of the book by Beverly Cleary.

Just by virtue of the fact that this cat is in Shakespeare makes him worth mentioning. Thousands of people have read Macbeth down through history and have imagined for themselves what Graymalkin, the witches' familiar, looked like.

T.S. Eliot wrote the book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, which is all about, what else? Cats. There are too many to mention, so they're all lumped together into this one entry.

One of the two main characters, along with Archy the cockroach, in Don Mqrquis short stories and newspaper columns in the New York Sun and Saturday Evening Post. They were later compiled starting in 1927 and as recently as 2006. Mehitabel the alley cat who claimed to be the reincarnation of Cleopatra and whose attitude on life was expressed..."wotthehell wotthehell" and "i am toujours gai."

The famous crime-solving cats from Lillian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." series.

The sky little kitten, with his five roly-poly little black and white kitten siblings, populate one of the best-loved and most famous children's stories ever written.

The Discworld series made Terry Pratchett the best-selling author in the U.K. during the 90s (prior to the arrival of JK Rowling). Greebo, the wickedly confident feline companion of Nanny Ogg, is a memorably delightful citizen of this world.