Tomi Kontio & Elina Warsta: A Dog Called Cat Looking for a Home

A warm-hearted story about three friends whose friendship, fairness and variety make them shine.

Author: Tomi Kontio
Illustrator: Elina Warsta
Finnish original: Koira nimeltään Kissa kaipaa kotia
Publisher: Teos, 2020
Genre: illustrated children’s fiction
Number of pages: 32 pp.
Reading material: Finnish original, English translation
Rights sold: Bulgaria, Raketa; Hungary, Koinonia; Romania, Pandora | Trei Editorial Group; Sweden, Epix (optioned)

A dog called Cat, a cat called Dog and a homeless man called Weasel are best friends. They’ve got next to no worldly possessions but their lives are filled with friendship and love towards everyone and everything.

One day at a railway station Cat runs into a small girl who gets worried for the raggedy group of three and asks them whether Cat has no home. When the girl disappears into the crowd, Cat’s heart is filled with longing. Even though she loves roaming freely, winter can be cruel, and the endless wandering tough. She realises she is longing for a safe home.

Weasel says the three are fine as they are, but Cat and Dog disagree. ‘Friendship can’t keep you warm’, Dog meows to Weasel. The group starts to look for a home. Will they find it, or will the underpasses and vestibules be forever their fate?

A Dog Called Cat Looking for a Home is the third book by poet Tomi Kontio and illustrator Elina Warsta, in the series about a dog called Cat. The first instalment, A Dog Called Cat (2015) was nominated fort the Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize and got the IBBY honourable mention. The second one, A Dog Called Cat Meets a Cat (2019) was nominated for the Finlandia Junior prize and was chosen as an audience favourite.

Also available:
A Dog Called Cat and the Wonder of Christmas (2021)
A Dog Called Cat Meets a Cat (2019)
A Dog Called Cat (2015)

My Dad Is a Hipster (2022)
Wings to the Other Side of the World (2000)

About the authors:
Tomi Kontio
Elina Warsta