Book-A-Day Almanac

Today I am thanking all my cat-loving readers, who have had to suffer through endless dog books and dog stories. It isn’t fair, I know! However, June has been designated Adopt a Shelter Cat Month—with the motto “Make Pet Adoption Your First Option.” So to settle the imbalance in the Almanac, I’m going to use June to present some first-rate cat books. Today we’ll look at the work of Esther Averill, on June 13 Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussycat,” on June 18th Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat, and on June 28th T. S. Elliott’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. (Then I can go back to dogs!)

Jenny Linsky, one of the most engaging cats in children’s books, emerged in the 1940s and 1950s from the mind of author Esther Averill. Poor Jenny; found as a stray, she’s taken into the home of the kindly captain. But she desperately wants to become a member of the Cat Club that meets in her neighborhood. To gain admittance, she must demonstrate a special talent. Not until the captain fashions ice skates for Jenny, and she demonstrates her skating prowess, does she finally become a member of the club. In Jenny and the Cat Club, which contains five stories about our intrepid heroine, Jenny goes to her first party (where she shows off her ability to dance the sailor’s hornpipe), acquires some brothers, loses a scarf, and gets her brothers admitted to the Cat Club.

Although all the stories about Jenny Linsky stay true to cat behavior, they rely on the realities of childhood—wanting to fit in, jealousy over siblings, losing a valued object. All the cat characters have names and personalities, are rendered in black line with spots of color, and engage in clever dialogue. In Jenny, young readers see both their beloved pet and themselves. Perfect for readers ages five through eight who have moved up from picture books but are not yet ready for longer novels, the stories about Jenny can be read a chapter at a time, ideal for those at this level of reading skill.

Throughout her career Esther Averill pursued many lines of work. A graduate of Vassar in 1923, she wrote for Women’s Wear Daily. She went to Paris, and while there established her own press in 1931, where she specialized in superb reproduction of the artwork of some of the most gifted European artists of the time, like Feodor Rojankovsky. Because of the Nazi invasion of Paris, Averill returned to the United States and worked for the New York Public Library. Then she studied art and began creating her own stories about Jenny, set in the Greenwich Village area, where Averill lived.

Although immensely popular in their day, the thirteen volumes about Jenny the cat began to vanish from print. However, in 2003 The New York Review of Books started reissuing them. These editions are commendable not only because they put Jenny back in circulation but also because of the attention given to design and production. All the Averill reissues are elegant books, perfect to give as a gift. It seems so fitting that Averill, who cared deeply about book production, was given the kind of care and attention for her books she once lavished on the books of others.

If there are any cat lovers who have not discovered or reread these books for years, you will be delighted when you pick up these wonderfully written, funny, and engaging sagas.

Here’s a passage from Jenny and the Cat Club: