Aileen Paterson was born in the Fife town of
Burntisland to William and Helen Henderson. She gained a diploma in designs and craft in 1955 and worked at the Portobello potteries in Edinburgh. She worked as an art teacher between the 1960s to 1980s. The title of her first book,
Maisie Comes to Morningside (1984), was inspired by the American crime writer
Chester Himes' book
Cotton Comes to Harlem (1965). Maisie Mackenzie, the heroine of Paterson's series of children's books, wears a
kilt and
Fair Isle jumper and lives in
Morningside, a suburb of
Edinburgh. Maisie is a brave, adventurous kitten exploring a world that ultimately reinforces the good things in life such as friendship, food, fun, community and football. The wit and finely tuned social observation engages adults as much as children. Maisie's world is almost entirely populated by cats, so that although there is a belligerent
budgie and the occasional horse, there are no dogs or humans. However, Maisie's adventures take place in real places (reflected in the books' illustrations) such as
Edinburgh,
Glasgow,
Paris, and
New York.
Maisie Bites the Big Apple features the
Marc Chagall murals in the
Metropolitan Opera House. Paterson's final book in the series (2006) sees Maisie investigating strange goings-on in Edinburgh's
Botanic Gardens. In 2011,
Lothian Buses made Maisie the face of the Number 5 bus, which goes through the character's home district of Morningside. Several stories were also turned into an animated series called
Meeow! starring
Stanley Baxter. ==Death and legacy==