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Summary: With an excess of both books and cats...
Review: ...I can speak with authority on this one. Esther Averill's Jenny stories were some of the first books I can remember checking out of the neighborhood library; what a joy to find them back in print! I, too, had only vague recollections of "a cat that danced the hornpipe," but seeing the jolly yellow cover of the new edition opened my memory like Proust's madeleine. I hadn't realized that these odd and charming little stories were set in the Greenwich Village I grew up to roam so happily in my college years, though, or I'd have kept more of an eye out for the Cat Club. I'm eager to get my hands on a copy and share it with my future kids.
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Summary: Thank You Jenny!
Review: After years of struggling with my son to interest him in reading, I came upon this wonderful book that features the one thing that I thought might make him read...A cute little black cat and her adventures. This book now has the distinction of being the first book my 9 yr old son has read by himself from cover to cover. Thank you Jenny! Hopefully the publisher will re-release the other Jenny stories as well.
Rating: 
Summary: A fun children's tale for more than just cat lovers
Review: An interesting collection of stories about a little black cat named Jenny and her adventures. Children will love this story especially if they enjoy cats. Even as an adult you can appreciate this classic with your kids for many years and repeated readings because of the clever personalities of the personified cats.
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Summary: Jenny Linsky taught me to read.
Review: I remember this book from when I was a little kid, and I always loved it. The illustrations are the BEST (my personal favorite being the one where Jenny dances the hornpipe), and the stories are great. I bought it for my sister as a Christmas gift, and now I have to buy one for myself. I am also going to try to find more of the books, because there are several more stories that are not in this edition. Highly recommended. A timeless classic for children and adults alike!!!
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Summary: I LOVE JENNY LINSKY!!!
Review: I remember this book from when I was a little kid, and I always loved it. The illustrations are the BEST (my personal favorite being the one where Jenny dances the hornpipe), and the stories are great. I bought it for my sister as a Christmas gift, and now I have to buy one for myself. I am also going to try to find more of the books, because there are several more stories that are not in this edition. Highly recommended. A timeless classic for children and adults alike!!!
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Summary: A favorite book as a kid, still good as an adult
Review: I still have my worn out yellow paperback copy of this book with the picture of Jenny Linsky, the little black cat with the red scarf, on the cover. When a little black cat came and hid in my childhood backyard, I insisted on naming him (yes, him) Jenny. He wore a red collar, because my parents thought a scarf would drag on the ground and choke him. I have been an ardent cat-lover as long as I can remember, and as a child I was fascinated by the stories of the Cat Club who gathered outside at night and had all kinds of adventures. Given that I was an intensely fact-driven kid, I admit to a little confusion about whether cats could actually act the way they did in the books, how Pickles would keep (or want to keep) his fire hat on, and how much of the book was real. The fact that it was based on real cats made this more confusing, and as a kid I didn't understand the idea of blending cat and human features to make an amusing but quite fantastical story. I don't remember any other kids having that particular problem with the book, though, so I'll chalk it up to my having been a weird kid. I just pulled this book down off my bookshelf today, and after all these years it's still a book I enjoy. My favorite story is still "Jenny's Adopted Brothers", in which Jenny invites two stray cats home to stay with her. If I ever had children, I would definitely give them this book, and a number of adults would probably enjoy it as well. It could also be a good opportunity to teach the sort of kid I was about the possibilities of creatively blending fact and fiction when writing -- it was one of the few books I was willing to suspend disbelief for, because the stories were so interesting.
Rating:
Summary: A favorite book as a kid, still good as an adult
Review: I still have my worn out yellow paperback copy of this book with the picture of Jenny Linsky, the little black cat with the red scarf, on the cover. When a little black cat came and hid in my childhood backyard, I insisted on naming him (yes, him) Jenny. He wore a red collar, because my parents thought a scarf would drag on the ground and choke him. I have been an ardent cat-lover as long as I can remember, and as a child I was fascinated by the stories of the Cat Club who gathered outside at night and had all kinds of adventures. Given that I was an intensely fact-driven kid, I admit to a little confusion about whether cats could actually act the way they did in the books, how Pickles would keep (or want to keep) his fire hat on, and how much of the book was real. The fact that it was based on real cats made this more confusing, and as a kid I didn't understand the idea of blending cat and human features to make an amusing but quite fantastical story. I don't remember any other kids having that particular problem with the book, though, so I'll chalk it up to my having been a weird kid. I just pulled this book down off my bookshelf today, and after all these years it's still a book I enjoy. My favorite story is still "Jenny's Adopted Brothers", in which Jenny invites two stray cats home to stay with her. If I ever had children, I would definitely give them this book, and a number of adults would probably enjoy it as well. It could also be a good opportunity to teach the sort of kid I was about the possibilities of creatively blending fact and fiction when writing -- it was one of the few books I was willing to suspend disbelief for, because the stories were so interesting.
Rating:
Summary: The Cat Club is a favorite of this teacher
Review: I was a full-time teacher for 25 years. I have been substituting in the elementary schools in two states. The book, Jenny and the Cat Club followed me in my semi-retirement from IL to MI. Children in both states, in first and second grade classrooms enjoy my reading this book, which I have in falling apart paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful.
Review: I was looking for this book for the last two years or more, unfortunately I couldn't remember the title or the author(!).
All I remembered was that it was about a black cat who danced the hornpipe- try finding a book with only that information!
I found it by chance- here in its newly reissued form.
Just as good or better than I remembered. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful.
Review: I was thrilled when I saw that this collection of Jenny Linsky stories was being published again. I delighted in reading these stories to my children when they were little. The stories are a wonderful break from the cynical world in which we live. They always teach a lesson, but in such a way that they are never preachy. The illustrations are absolutely lovely and adorable. I am saving my edition to read to my grandchildren. Then I can create a second generation of memories that include these sweet stories.
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