The School for Cats [Hardcover]

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. Another in the shy Jenny Linsky cat stories, as that plaintive little creature goes to a cat school in the country far from home. The author has a beguiling way of telling a story, and she writes of Pickles, the school bully who frightens little Jenny away, and of how Jenny learned to have fun at school, and handle the bully. Humorous and sympathetic listening 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 TimesEsther 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 tl3œ