Jenny and the Cat Club

Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther Averill

I was in chatting with the librarian the other day and spied the yellow cover on her back “waiting to be cataloged” shelf.  Cats! I squealed, immediately recognizing the cover.  You have Jenny! She passed it along as soon as it had been equipped with its new label and barcode.

I remember this so fondly from childhood and it falls into that elusive category – beginning chapter book.  There are frequent illustrations (about every other page) and slightly larger font as well.  It’s good for little listeners as well.  Each chapter is its own little story which gives you good natural stopping points.

Jenny is a shy little black cat who is taken in by a sea captain. She longs to make friends with the neighborhood cats and soon she does.  They have all sorts of adventures (sometimes involving neighborhood dogs).  I wouldn’t say this book feels like New York in any discernible way, but I love it for young readers, and it takes place there, so there you have it.

For inquiring minds: nose flutes.  Oh, you’ll need to know.

Rather Bizarre Racial Insensitivity – when one of the cats sees that Jenny wears a scarf and Pickles wears a fireman’s helmet he borrows an Indian headdress from the doorman. It’s like the Village People, but with cats.  I am both irritated by the racism and really curious about doormen who keep cat-sized costumes at the ready.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Two cats are sweethearts.
Profanity – “sissy,”
Death, Violence and Gore – A cat who looks like a pirate holds a sword and dagger.  In a poem about a pirate cat, the pirate cat says he’d “wreck all cats on board with my trusty sword.”  He is later caught and they whisk him apart and pickle his heart.  But it’s just a poem.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – A catnip hunt is mentioned.
Frightening or Intense Things – A dog steals Jenny’s scarf.  Later a den of dogs catches on fire because the dogs were playing with matches.