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). »

Jenny and the Cat Club

A Collection of Favorite Stories About Jenny Linsky

Written and illustrated by Esther Averill

In Greenwich Village an orphaned black cat lives happily with her master, a sea captain. Still, the gentle Jenny Linsky would like nothing more than to join the local Cat Club, whose members include Madame Butterfly, an elegant Persian, the high-stepping Macaroni, and stately, plump Mr. President. But can she overcome her fears and prove that she, too, has a special gift? Join Jenny and her friends, including fearless Pickles the Fire Cat, on their spirited downtown adventures and discover why The Atlantic Monthly called Jenny" a personality ranking not far below such giants as Peter Rabbit."

Reviews

Jenny Linsky, the gallant heroine of these perenially endearing tales, pads through life balancing many of the same emotional ups and downs that crowd every schoolchild's day. Being a cat, Jenny does it all with enviable aplomb, and with a keen eye for her surroundings—the colorful back alleys and gardens of Greenwich Village. In Jenny readers meet the perfect friend—an honest, fun-loving, and loyal playfellow and comrade-in-arms. How good to have Jenny back in print—and the august Cat Club back in session again!
— Leonard S. Marcus, Storied City: A Children's Book Walking Tour Guide to New York City

It is difficult in a review to define the charm that she has brought to its making. Here are humor and gaiety, the power to make a small world—and a small cat—important and interesting. Here are good taste and good judgment and experience.
— The Saturday Review

There is a realness about Jenny, as well as a demure charm, that gives these annals of her doings a distinction lacking in many a more pretentious effort.
— The New Yorker

The clever small pictures, with touches of bright colors, are exactly right. The whole has a distinction that many more pretentious books lack.
— New York Herald Tribune

The grace and charm of these little books are not only for children. In wording, illustration, and design they offer to people of all ages a short interview of pure delight.
— The Saturday Review

Also see:

The Little Bookroom By Eleanor Farjeon Illustrations by Edward Ardizzone Afterword by Rumer Godden "Eleanor Farjeon is a master at presenting the world as romance. Yet there is bite in it. Her worlds of imagination are no simpering constructions, all syrup and sugar, with fairies uprooted from their antique and awesome lineage. They are shadowed with weeping now and then, but the strongest note is affirmation, an exuberance of joy." —The Horn Book

The Crane Written and illustrated by Reiner Zimnik "A profound, deeply moving allegory that will linger in the minds of readers of all ages. It is a mixture of sheer poetry, religious feeling and all things good and bad, humorous and tragic in life." —Louisville Courier-Journal and Times

The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily Written and illustrated by Dino Buzzati Dino Buzzati's classic tale chronicles the terrible winter that sent the starving bears down into the valley in search of food, as well as their struggles with an army of wild boars, a wily professor who may or may not be a magician, snarling Marmoset the Cat, and, worse still, treachery within their own ranks.

Sign up for our free email newsletters for updates and special offers on NYRB books.