Pete the Cat

Pete the Cat is a fictional cartoon cat created by the American artist James Dean, and one of the most successful picture-book characters of the modern era. A laid-back blue cat with half-closed, easy-going eyes, Pete first padded onto the page in a series of four books illustrated by Dean with text by Eric Litwin, beginning with the runaway hit 'Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes'.

The appeal of Pete lies in his sunny, imperturbable philosophy. Across his adventures he steps in strawberries, blueberries and mud, loses buttons off his shirt, and faces all the small catastrophes of a child's world — and each time, rather than crying or complaining, he simply keeps strolling along and singing his song, because in Pete's world things are always, reassuringly, 'all good'. That gentle message about resilience and rolling with life's messes is a large part of why parents and teachers embraced the books so warmly.

After the original quartet, James Dean and his wife, Kimberly Dean, went on to write and illustrate an ever-growing series of Pete the Cat books, spanning picture books, early readers and seasonal stories, and turning the character into a genuine publishing phenomenon that has sold many millions of copies. Pete's cheerful groove has since carried him beyond the page into animation, music and a vast range of merchandise.

With his surfer's calm, his catchy repeated refrains and his shoes that just keep getting dirtier, Pete the Cat has become a fixture of early-childhood bookshelves — a cool, kind-hearted blue cat teaching a whole generation of young readers to take the day's mishaps in their stride.