It's a big day for Jenny Linsky, the shy little black cat of Greenwich Village, when her brothers, Checkers and Edward, take her out for her birthday. They pick up her notorious friends along the way, including the twins Romulus and Remus, who have brought a special present, and Pickles, the Fire Cat, who gathers everyone into his red fire truck to take them to the park. There they will invite friends and strangers to share a picnic supper and dance the night away. Join Jenny and her friends in their romp around town in this beautiful birthday story!

Ages 4 and up.

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. 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).

Categories

• Juvenile Fiction / Animals / Cats
• Juvenile Fiction / Holidays & Celebrations / Birthdays
• Juvenile Fiction / Imagination & Play

Product Details

ISBN: 9781590171547
ISBN-10: 1590171543
Publisher: NYR Children's Collection
Publication Date: June 30th, 2005
Pages: 44
Language: English
Series: Jenny's Cat Club

Recommended Reading Level

Minimum Age: 3
Maximum Age: 7
Minimum Grade Level: P
Maximum Grade Level: 2

About Jenny’s Birthday Book

“Jenny celebrates her birthday with a picnic in the park. All her friends are invited, and after the picnic supper they dance the sailor’s hornpipe. The illustrations have the same gaiety and charm that have appealed to so many young children in the past.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

 

Praise for Esther Averill and the Jenny series:

“As with any successful work of fiction…what makes these stories especially pleasing is not the relevance of the issues they address but the skill with which their characters and scenes are drawn. The members of the Cat Club…and the other cats with whom Jenny consorts in Lower Manhattan, have distinct personalities, recognizable by and interesting to human beings, presumably the bulk of Averill’s readership. However, whereas the animals in many children’s books are merely people with fur, Averill captures the essential catness of her characters. Averill colors her stories with abundant flights of clever fancy…But the nonchalance with which she delivers these makes them as real as her grounding details….Children will find Jenny’s lessons about emotions and behavior helpful and reassuring.”
—Christina Schwarz, The Atlantic Monthly, 2003

"How wonderful to have, all in one book, this collection of favorite stories (long out of print) about the little black cat with her jaunty scarf and her friends in the Cat Club. These are wonderful read-alouds for young listeners, and easy-to-read stories for those reading on their own."
— Book Passage, Holiday Choice

“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

"Averill’s illustrations should be as endearing to new readers as to those who enjoyed them during their first release."
— Publishers Weekly

“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

“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...” —Leonard S. Marcus, author of Storied City: A Children’s Book Walking Tour Guide to New York City