Esther AverillBesprekingen

Pickles is a young cat with big paws and big plans. But all he can find to do is chase other cats, until he is adopted by the local firehouse.

Knowing that this is his chance to do big things, Pickles works hard to be a good fire cat. He learns to jump on a fire truck. He learns to help put out a fire, and he even helps out in a rescue!

This was cute! I happily recognized lots of influences from TS Elliot's "Big Book of Cats". It's a quick, gentle read.

I loved this book as a kid! Maybe it was the bright red cover. I really don't remember the story but I sure liked the pictures. So glad I still own it.

Sweet, but innocuous, and short. It reminded me of the kind of semi-rambling story one might make up for one's kids on the spur of the moment, when stuck on a train with no book, say. I can imagine someone recommending it for a shy child who is bullied at school, say, and I can also imagine it not helping in the slightest. The illustrations are a kind of naive primitive style by the author and have more charm than the tale itself.

So not horrible, but I'm a bit surprised it became so beloved as to spawn several sequels (this is itself a follow-up to the first one, The Cat Club), let alone be reissued years later, alone the tone is very much in keeping with the clean, spare, charming, erudite style espoused by the New York Review Children's Collection curators.

Oh, and I've never seen a stained glass window in a church which opened. Never. So that struck a discordant tone. I can accept schools for cats, but not churches popping over their stained glass windows to let a little breeze in!

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).

Recommended by Tali A. (and Corin)

Charming stories about a shy little black cat called Jenny Linsky, who finds a home with Captain Tinker (who gives her a red scarf), and friendship and acceptance in the Cat Club.

I read this book as a little kid (elementary school), and forty-odd years later, I still remember it with much love. Since Jenny is a female cat, I suspect boys might have a harder time getting into this book than girls would -- still, the other cats are a mix of male and female, and the plots/situations could appeal to both genders.

~bint

Wonderful stories about Jenny Linsky, a little black cat who lives with her sea-captain owner. This cat is very shy and this story follows the cat attempting to make friends.

Shy kids could definetly relate to this book. They can see that the cat is shy just like them, so then they feel less weird about being shy!

Pickles lives in a barrel and chases other cats off his territory, but when he has to be rescued from a tree by the firefighters, he goes to live with them to "do big things." He becomes the station fire cat and helps rescue another cat from a tree.

A weird (but not necessarily in a bad way) little book about a cat who goes to a cat school while her owner is on vacation and gets bullied by another, bigger cat.

Pickles is a cat who wishes to do big things. When he is adopted by the people at the firehouse, this little cat decides to be the best fire cat ever.

It's Jenny's birthday! Her brothers and friends treat her to a picnic party in the park, complete with presents, cake, and dancing.

This is a sweet picture book with zero conflict. I can imagine it being great to share with a child on her or his birthday, or in the days leading up to said birthday to talk about the types of things one could do to celebrate.

Apparently this title is part of a series of books about the shy little cat named Jenny. Some of the other cats are mentioned as though they might have backstories in the other books, but this one stands alone pretty well overall.

The illustrations are fairly simple, alternating between black-and-white and color pages. They fit the text well, providing a graphic counterpart with a few extra details in the mix.

My one and only complaint with this book is the cat who sports "an Indian feather in honor of the birthday" (cultural appropriation) and a quick reference to "firemen" rather than "firefighters" (gender stereotyping). But, given that this book was published in 1954, I can mostly overlook these.½

Simpatiche e tenere avventure di una micetta che non lo sa, ma è proprio fortunata. Imparerà a conoscere se stessa confrontandosi con un "club" speciale e scoprire il mondo fuori, guardando dentro i sentimenti che fanno diventare "grandi". Consiglio scuola primaria secondo ciclo.

The Cat Club stories were a hit with my 3 1/2 year old, who is just learning to sit through chapter books. The stories are peppered with adorable illustrations which helped hold his interest and the language and content wasn't too much for him, so it's a great first chapter book for a preschooler. The stories are simple, yes, but that's why they're great: Jenny and her adventures are mainly about the kinds of feelings humans deal with every day, like jealousy, fear, and shyness.

Second attempt to read Jenny stories. ?áStill don't appreciate them, or the art.
Note that they were first published starting in 1944 - but they don't feel dated too much; to me it's more a feeling of childish, primitive writing style and simplistic stories.

The edition I read is a Scholastic paperback with:
The Cat Club
Jenny's First Party
When Jenny Lost Her Scarf
Jenny's Adopted Brothers
How the Brothers Joined the Club

Great collection of easy to read children's stories about a tiny, shy, black cat named Jenny. I loved the illustrations, black and white with tiny touches of red. In each story the little shy cat finds a way to overcome her fears and try new things.

Captain Tinker is a great, great man.

This is a very good book. It allows the child to use their imagination and real life situations. I would recommend anybody to read this book to their child.

There are only 3 stories left in our huge collection of the Best Children's Books of the 20th Century, from which we've been pulling stories at bedtime sporadically since Morgan was 2. Last night, we decided to finish it off. Now, Morgan is crazy about cats. However, we both felt this was the most pointless, boring, and poorly written piece of literature that we have ever seen. We had to force ourselves to finish just so that we can say we've finished out the whole collection, but had more fun demonstrating our boredom with monotone voices, eye-rolling, and mime-gagging than anything else. Ugh! I don't recommend this, even to kids who love cats!

The story is about a little, shy black cat named Jenny Linsky. She is taken out on a picnic, which involves an exciting trip through New York City. Along the way, she and her brothers meet various friends who join in on and attend the picnic party. Jenny is very happy to have all her cat friends be part of the party and she ends with a prayer asking that all cats be as lucky as she is.
I did enjoy reading this book. The colorful illustrations added great imagery for me, or any reader, which allowed me to experience the book and hectic-ness of the day. I think that such pictures in a book are a strength for it because it provides context and a clear depiction of the scenery. Since the book is not in an imaginary place (it is in New York City), giving the reader a sort of vacation away from their current setting is a gateway to not only understanding, but engaging with the content as well. With various landmarks and so-called "New York" things in the background of the images, it allows one to feel like if they are part of the book, and shows them how life actually is for the cats.

Jenny and the Cat Club by Ester Averill is the story of how Jenny came to join the cat club. The stories were originally published together in 1973 and reissued in 2011.

I think if I ever adopt a female black cat, I'll have to name her Jenny Linksy. She is my favorite cat character from esther Averill's series of books about a Cat Club in Greenwich Village. I first met her and her friends through Hotel Cat — the book that also has the honor of being my first checked out library book after moving to our new home in the Hayward Hills.

Back then, Hotel Cat was the only book available because the others had fallen out of print and the library only had the last copy in the series. Since then, the New York Review has reissued most of the series (except for the prequel picture book, The Fire Cat). The entire collection is well worth purchasing for any cat loving child — or any child who suffers from shyness but craves adventures.

Nearly every page has one of Averill's delightful illustrations — black and white, save for a splash of red. The red is usually saved for the thing that delights the cat the most. So for Jenny, it's her scarf. For her brother, it's a red ball. And so forth.

Jenny and the Cat Club includes short tales about Jenny Linksy. She is adopted by Captain Tinker who makes her a red scarf to boost her self confidence. She encounters the Cat Club and desperately wants to learn a talent so she can join them. Later, Jenny becomes a sister to a pair of homeless cats and goes through some understandable moments of jealousy.

The School for Cats by Esther Averill is one of the Jenny's Cat Club books. I've been trying to read the series on and off since reading The Hotel Cat. The stories seem to be at all different reading levels and they've gone out of print and come back into print, making them all the more difficult to sort out and read.

In this one, Jenny, the adorable black cat with the fetching red scarf, is heading to cat school for the summer. The set up reminds me of the times I've taken Caligula cat to "cat camp" for boarding while I visited my family. In Averill's world, though, cats are self sufficient enough to get there on their own. Pickles, the fire cat, for example, drives his miniature fire engine to the school!

Pickles's over abundance of energy and Jenny's natural timidity makes for a volatile combination. Poor Jenny ends up with the scare of her life but she learns from her experience and grows in the process. While Jenny runs off, I couldn't help but be reminded of Jane, the youngest of the Ursula Le Guin Catwings cats, especially in Jane on Her Own. Jenny, though, I like better.

As I noted in my review of Averill's Jenny and the Cat Club, one of my favorite "literary" characters as a child was Pickles the cat, who finds his purpose in the poignant early reader, The Fire Cat. Imagine my surprise and delight, these many years later, upon discovering that Averill wrote an entire series devoted to the cats of New York City's Greenwich Village.

Recently reprinted as part of the New York Review Children's Collection, which has been responsible for rescuing so many wonderful books from an undeserved obscurity, Captains of the City Streets follows the adventures of Sinbad and The Duke - two "tramp cats" who find their way to Greenwich Village, where they eventually become part of the local "Cat Club."

Although I have enjoyed all of Averill's books, it is Captains... which comes the closest to duplicating the poignant charm of The Fire Cat. The story of two older cats - made homeless by the deaths of their elderly humans, who stick together in a lonely and frightening world, eventually winning a place for themselves - it speaks to deeper issues than some of the other titles in the Jenny Linsky series.

I will confess to being an unabashed cat lover, and there is no doubt that I have an extremely low tolerance for scenes of feline suffering. I was surprised however, to find myself tearing up while reading this simple but charming chapter-book. Perhaps the recent death of my own cat, who had been a part of my life for sixteen years, made me especially susceptible. However that may be, Captains of the City Streets is an engaging story, accompanied by Averill's charming illustrations, and I heartily recommend it to all young (or old) cat lovers.

Shy Jenny Linksy - the red-scarved Greenwich Village cat - and her two brothers Checkers and Edward embark on an extended sea voyage with their human, Captain Tinker. Soon fast friends with Jack Tar, the ship's cat, these New York felines find adventure in many ports of call, from Capetown to Bangkok...

One of a number of titles featuring Jenny Linsky, long out-of-print and recently republished as part of The New York Review Children's Classics series, Jenny Goes to Sea should appeal to young chapter-book readers who like cats, or animal stories. As a confirmed lover of Averill's classic early reader, The Fire Cat, I was delighted to discover the existence of this series, which I somehow missed as a child, and have enjoyed reading it immensely. No kitty will ever eclipse Pickles the Fire Cat in my affections of course, but the winsome Jenny still makes for a charming heroine, and Averill's copious illustrations are a delight!

Jenny Linsky, her brothers Checkers and Edward, and her many friends celebrate her birthday in the park. With bluefish to eat and Jenny's favorite dance - the Sailor's Hornpipe - to enjoy, it's a party to remember...

This gentle storybook, devoted to the shy black cat from Greenwich Village, is a real treat for Esther Averill fans, who can enjoy the larger format illustrations to be found in a picture book. The inclusion of Pickles the Fire-Cat (a childhood favorite of mine) gave Jenny's Birthday Book added appeal for this particular reader...

Jenny Linsky, the shy black cat from Greenwich Village, finds that she must summon all her courage when a fellow member of The Cat Club loses her flute, and she is the only one who can retrieve it. Braving the terrors of Rob the Robber and his gang of dogs, Jenny sets out to do "the best she can..."

Accompanied by Averill's own charming illustrations, Jenny's Moonlight Adventure is a Halloween story that will have appeal for any child that has had to deal with bullies, and offers a gentle but inspiring story of friendship and loyalty. Recommended to young cat-lovers, and to anyone who has read and enjoyed other stories about Jenny Linsky and the Cat Club.