The School For Cats

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

Jenny Linsky, the famous little black cat of Greenwich Village, has never been to school before. When her master, Captain Tinker, sends her to a boarding school in the country to learn the special knowledge of cats-manners and cooperation-she is a little afraid, among strangers, and so far from home. As soon as she's settled in, taking off the red scarf that makes her feel brave, another student named Pickles, the Fire Cat, is upto his usual mischief, chasing smaller cats with his fire truck hook and ladder. When he chases Jenny, she runs away from school terrified. Jenny soon realizes that the Captain would be disappointed if he found out she had left school. It's then that Jenny decides to stand up to Pickles. She returns to school and when Pickles next tries his tricks, he's surprised at the "new" Jenny. Pickles learns his manners and Jenny learns that not only can school be fun, but the friendships she makes there will last forever.

Reviews

"Another in the shy Jenny Linsky cat stories, as that plaintive littlecreature goes to a cat school in the country far from home. The authorhas a beguiling way of telling a story, and she writes of Pickles, theschool bully who frightens little Jenny away, and of how Jennylearnedto have fun at school, and handle the bully. Humorous and sympatheticlistening reading for the nursery school, and primary grade set. Kirkus Reviews

"Deftly handled, nicely proportioned, this story has the sense of reality which is the earmark of good fantasy. Five to eight-year-olds who have their own problems of adjustment in school will rejoice in Jenny's moral triumph. The pictures, drawn with a sophisticated simplicity, are a perfect complement to the text." The New York Times

Author Bio

Esther Averill (1902-1992) began her career as a storyteller drawing cartoons for her local newspaper. After graduating from Vassar College in 1923, she moved first to New York City and then to Paris, where she founded her own publishing company. The Domino Press introduced American readers to artists from all over the world, including Feodor Rojankovsky, who later won a Caldecott Award. In 1941, Esther Averill returned to the United States and found a job in the New York Public Library while continuing her work as a publisher. She wrote her first book about the red-scarfed, mild-mannered cat Jenny Linsky in 1944, modeling its heroine on her own shy cat. Esther Averill would eventually write twelve more tales about Miss Linsky and her friends (including the I Can Read Book, The Fire Cat), each of which was eagerly awaited by children all over the United States (and their parents, too).