Customer Reviews

The Hotel Cat (New York Review Children's Collection)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is right up there with My Father's Dragon as wonderful first real novels to read aloud to young children. It is lyrical and full of emotion, without having anything in it that might be frightening to a young child. The issues that Tom, the Hotel Cat, faces, are some of the big ones for five year olds. He is young, in a world that is old, and he hopes to find some valuable place for himself in that old intimidating world; and he longs to make friends, in a social sphere where everybody else, as far as he can tell, are all members already of the same Club. His joy at knowing that behind the door or Room 811 are new friends, who have not forgotten him and look forward to talking with him as eagerly as he with them, has stayed with every one of my children as passionately as it stayed with me 35 years ago. Sadly, it is doing so with the very same worn edition, since The Hotel Cat is long out of print. I hope the New York Review will be inspired by what I trust will be the success of their reissue of The Cat Club to put this back into the market as well.

The other day I came across a copy of "Jenny and the Cat Club" at a bookstore and was overcome by memories of the hours I spent with the Cat Club as a child. "The Hotel Cat" was the first of my experiences with the Cat Club, and has always remained my favorite. For several years in grade school I would check it out over and over at the library to have the pleasure of reading it again and again. At one point I became convinced that my own three cats had a secret club with the other neighborhood felines! Eventually of course I moved on to longer and more difficult reads, but I never forgot Tom and the other Cat Club members. Sadly, when I looked for "The Hotel Cat" at the library a few years ago I discovered that it and the other Cat Club books had been sold or donated due to a low check out rate. Since then, I have been looking for my own copy of Cat Club books. Now that they are being republished, I absolutely plan to buy a copy of each so that I can pass these wonderful books that meant so much to me on to my own children some day.

I'm hoping that The Hotel Cat will soon join the other Cat Club reissues. Somewhere over the years I lost my original copy and recently replaced it with a used one I came across on EBay, but I'd love a new copy that would hold up long enough for my children to pass on to their children. If I read this book once I read it a thousand times, and I'll never forget the fifth-grade book report I wrote---or the crude mobile I created for which my mother helped me knit a little red scarf for Jenny! The illustrations and the story captivated me, transported me to a place I could only imagine, and inspired me to ask my parents all kinds of bizarre questions that they probably never could have expected---like what's a hornpipe dance and why is it called that?! A real treasure.

This is one of very favorite books. It brings me fond memories of going to the

library with my mother and then reading these lovely jenny stories.

I read all of ms.averill's jenny books and wrote book reports for school

using them. They are delightful and I love the illustrations.

I will always have special place in my heart for these stories

We were a fanatical cat family while my children were growing up. We had between three and five cats at any given time- once we had twelve for a short while when two at once had kittens. My first child, named "Jenny" (Jennifer- I wasn't very original back in the '70's) was a vociferous reader- and she LOVED this book- it was her very favourite as a, maybe seven(?) year old- she had her own copy and it was re-read many many times. Her two years younger brother, who was even more of a cat fanatic, borrowed it when he began reading and war broke out- this book was so treasured that she wouldn't lend it out, even within the household. So her brother got his own copy and this book made him from a non- into a reader. Not as precocious a reader as his sister, none-the-less, this was my middle child's first read alone chapter book. Ten years later, my third child loved it,too, and the others in the series, just as much.

Now my grandchildren have taken up the torch and despite the fact that this and the other Jenny books have been borrowed from the library many times, MUST have their own copies. So the younger child, a precocious reader at 6, received the whole set for her sixth birthday last month.

These books are certainly dated, the language is sophisticated for a six (or so) year old the plots are a bit weird to adult ears and rather unlikely. But I am not a child- this book, far and away was, (and is) probably the front-running favourite book of my children's childhood. I cannot tell you why- I was glad they read them to themselves back then. but it is a children's book. All my children, and now grandchildren, adore it. It is right at the top of their all time favourite books list. I was THRILLED to see the set re-issued.

I remember this as one of the first books I ever read by myself and when I looked it up several years ago there were a few copies floating around for ridiculous amounts of money. I don't think we've ever too old to enjoy a good read again!

My oldest daughter loves this book. The entire series by Esther Averill is terrific!

Great book for any cat lover

author of "Hobo Finds A Home"

What a wonderful book! I didin't want it to end. The cat characters were wonderfully realized, very "cat-like", with distinct personalities and catty quirks. The slightly primative illustrations were charming and enhanced the narrative. I loved the story, and look forward to reading the rest of the "Cat Club" books!