Jenny and the Cat Club: 08/10/13

Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther 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.

Five stars

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