The School for Cats

Sent to a School for Cats in the country while Captain Tinker is away, shy Jenny Linsky is at first terrified by the antics of Pickles the Fire Cat, who chases her up a chimney. But a night as a runaway in the forest, and the arrival of some new cats, give her the courage to stand up for herself.

This very brief book, suitable for younger chapter-book readers, presents another engaging story of the Greenwich Village cat and her group of friends. The appearance of Pickles - one of my favorite childhood storybook characters - would be enough to win my approval, but The School for Cats has an appeal all of its own.

Averill, whose adorable illustrations accompany the story, keeps scrupulously to the feline perspective, but the observant show more reader will perceive that Jenny's "school" is a boarding house for pets, and will be charmed by the reminder of how differently things must appear to animals. show less

This classic work is part of the Jenny's Cat Club series, a favorite of mine during childhood, though I only had a few of the volumes available at my local library. I was fortunate to find this book, along with others, at my local Friends of the Library book sale last fall.

This was a surprisingly short book. In it, Jenny is sent for the summer to stay at a cat boarding school. Upon arrival, she's terrified, and her anxiety escalates when she's bullied by Pickles, the fire cat. She ends up running away, homesick as she is for New York City, but she eventually returns and makes friends who help her stand up to Pickles. It's a sweet story with a message that still resonates. I love Averill's simple, effective illustrations.

I loved the Cat Club books when I was little, and The Fire Cat (starring Pickles, one of the Cat Club characters) remains one of my all-time favorite beginning readers ever. I happened across The School for Cats in the library and had to take it home; not sure if I read this one before, but I probably did at some point. What’s interesting to me about these books is that the plot is almost irrelevant, at least as far as my enjoyment goes. This book is about Jenny going to cat school, being afraid and getting teased and running away and ultimately deciding to go back and face her assailant. It’s a decent enough storyline, but what makes the book irresistible are the characters and the overall tone of the writing. And the show more illustrations, which compliment the writing perfectly. Perhaps there’s a nostalgia factor at work, as well, but I think I would still love these books if I only first encountered them today. show less

The School for Cats by Esther Averill is one of the Jenny's Cat Club books. I've been trying to read the series on and off since reading The Hotel Cat. The stories seem to be at all different reading levels and they've gone out of print and come back into print, making them all the more difficult to sort out and read.

In this one, Jenny, the adorable black cat with the fetching red scarf, is heading to cat school for the summer. The set up reminds me of the times I've taken Caligula cat to "cat camp" for boarding while I visited my family. In Averill's world, though, cats are self sufficient enough to get there on their own. Pickles, the fire cat, for example, drives his miniature fire engine to the school!

Pickles's over abundance of show more energy and Jenny's natural timidity makes for a volatile combination. Poor Jenny ends up with the scare of her life but she learns from her experience and grows in the process. While Jenny runs off, I couldn't help but be reminded of Jane, the youngest of the Ursula Le Guin Catwings cats, especially in Jane on Her Own. Jenny, though, I like better. show less

Sweet, but innocuous, and short. It reminded me of the kind of semi-rambling story one might make up for one's kids on the spur of the moment, when stuck on a train with no book, say. I can imagine someone recommending it for a shy child who is bullied at school, say, and I can also imagine it not helping in the slightest. The illustrations are a kind of naive primitive style by the author and have more charm than the tale itself.

So not horrible, but I'm a bit surprised it became so beloved as to spawn several sequels (this is itself a follow-up to the first one, The Cat Club), let alone be reissued years later, alone the tone is very much in keeping with the clean, spare, charming, erudite style espoused by the New York Review show more Children's Collection curators.

Oh, and I've never seen a stained glass window in a church which opened. Never. So that struck a discordant tone. I can accept schools for cats, but not churches popping over their stained glass windows to let a little breeze in!

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). show less

A weird (but not necessarily in a bad way) little book about a cat who goes to a cat school while her owner is on vacation and gets bullied by another, bigger cat.

Its summer time and shy little Jenny Linsky is off to the countryside to the Boarding School for Cats to learn manners and decorum. I believe this is the second story in the series, so many familiar characters are introduced for the first time, including Pickles the Fire Cat, who mostly appears in this book as Jenny's tormentor, although his intentions are mischievous rather than evil. Pickles lives in a fire station in New York City and drives his own special Hook and Ladder truck that the firemen have built for him. At school, Pickles is notorious for using his Hook and Ladder to chase the smallest cats. So Jenny of course becomes a target and ends up running away from the school, too scared to return. She spends some time in a show more chimney, a church, a train station, and a forest. Then, thanks to the help of some new city cats, Florio and Tiger James (who I think return in later stories - I recall Florio wearing a feathered headdress), Jenny learns to be brave and stand up to Pickles, who learns a lesson about picking on kitties his own size. And Jenny and Pickles become great friends.

The illustrations were particularly great in this one. This is one of the cutest Jenny Linsky stories I've read so far. I don't collect these with kids in mind, but I do think that this book has a great message for kids about being brave and standing up for yourself and also about how friends can be made in unexpected circumstances. show less