Pearl in a Whirl: How one fluffy cat braved the floods

Author(s): Catherine Robertson

Picture Books, Early Learning

A tale of chaos and courage, ruin and rescue, as Pearl’s home – like so many others – was ravaged by Cyclone Gabrielle.


Pearl loved doing all her favourite things: swatting the dog, slurping tap water, hiding in bags, and curling up to sleep. But one Monday night, with a whoosh and a whirl, her comfortable life was turned upside-down ...


Pearl’s family home in Puketapu, in Hawke's Bay, was destroyed by Cyclone Gabrielle and it took a week for her to be reunited with her family, as the community came together in the aftermath of one of New Zealand's worst weather events.


Product Information

Written by bestselling author Catherine Robertson, with illustrations by Fifi Colston, every copy sold will raise much-needed funds for the Hawke's Bay Foundation to assist in the Cyclone Gabrielle recovery effort.

Catherine Robertson (Author)


Catherine Robertson's novels have all been number one New Zealand bestsellers. Her fourth novel, The Hiding Places, also won the 2015 Nelson Libraries’ Award for New Zealand Fiction. Catherine reviews books in print and on radio and is a regular guest on Radio New Zealand’s The Panel and Jesse Mulligan’s Book Critic slot. She is married with two grown sons, two Burmese cats, two rescue dogs and a powerful vacuum cleaner. She divides her time between Wellington and Hawke’s Bay.


Fifi Colston (Illustrator)


Fifi Colston is a straight-up creative with her fingers in many arty pies. She is an award-winning junior-fiction novelist and illustrator of more than 30 children’s books including the bestselling Marvellous Marvin by Nadia Lim and the Little Yellow Digger stories by Peter Gilderdale. She is also a poet and a television presenter of arts and crafts — firstly on TVNZ’s ‘What Now’ and then ‘The Good Morning Show’. She has been creating World of Wearable Arts designs and has been a finalist and an award-winner many times over. She has also worked in the New Zealand TV and film industry as a costumier, puppet maker and illustrator and trainee scriptwriter. In between writing and creating, Fifi enjoys visiting schools and community groups, inspiring budding artists and writers through workshops in creative process.

General Fields

  • : 9781776957156
  • : Penguin Group (NZ)
  • : Penguin Books (NZ)
  • : 01 June 2023
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Catherine Robertson
  • : Paperback
  • : Fifi Colston