Customer Reviews

Jenny Goes to Sea

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Copyright 1957. Jenny Linsky goes to sea at a time that was sweller than now, presuming you were a well-birthed white male or knew your place. Jenny knew her place. She has a member of the civilized Cat Club and no stanger to adventure. Look out for mysterious predictions, an epic poem, and the brave deed! Life was simpler then, and, frankly, I occasionally enjoy being spared the social redeeming values of more modern fiction. Pickles the fire cat even makes a cameo appearance. Averill's simple illustrations and charts nicely augment the short novel. A good read. The balance of Esther Averill's work as well as other publications by the New York Review Children's Collection are also worth looking into. Don't miss The Fire Cat. Enjoy.

I read Jenny and the Cat Club as a child, but never found any of the other Jenny books until now. This book did not disappoint! If you are a Jenny fan, this is a must have.

I remember finding this in the children's department of my local library when I was young. I loved it then, and was thrilled to see it had been reprinted so I could share it with my own cat-loving children.

The illustrations are simple, the plot is basic, but all the kids I've shared this with have loved the story of Jenny and her brothers and their trip around the world. I will say that changes in the world since the book was written sometimes needed a bit of explanation, but the story has aged remarkably well. It went over much better than the mass-produced, written-by-committee stuff they find when they visit the bookstore nowadays.

I came upon the Jenny Linsky books by chance looking for some read aloud books for my three year old grand-daughter. We were both captured by the character of Jenny, the shy but intrepid little cat with the red scarf who joins a community of cats when she is not sharing her life with the Captain, her kind owner. There are old fashioned life lessons to be learned from all these books by Esther Averill, but presented without moralizing, with charm and humor and a sense of life's joyful possibilities. We now have the entire series save one which is out of print, and my grand-daughter, now four, has never tired of the stories of Jenny and her friends, each of whom is defined by some wonderful characteristic. It is clear she identifies with Jenny Linsky (what a terrific name for a cat) and that the books won't wear out their welcome for years - since she will someday read them on her own. These are modest but endearing classics, and the naive drawings that accompany the text are perfect. We are in the middle of Jenny Goes to Sea, the last book I purchased and it does not disappoint.

After reading Esther Averill's The Fire Cat and Jenny and the Cat Club, my daughter has become an avid fan. She giggles at the tales of Jenny's adventures with her brothers and the other cat club friends. These are timeless tales which are perfect for early readers because the stories have enough depth to keep children interested but are simply told making them ideal for those starting to read on their own.

My girls love all the Jenny Linsky adventures/stories. This one does not disappoint and is so well-written that it appeals to all ages.

Esther Averill, is the author of a wonderful series of children's books involving a small, shy black cat named Jenny Linsky, of which The School for Cats is one. This story, and all the others in this series are very sweet. They remind me of the other wonderful, classic children's stories such as the Beatrix Potter stories. While the Jenny Linsky stories were written in the 50's, I think children today would still find them very entertaining. Any parent or child who loves cats and cat stories will love these stories. This is a story that kids will want read to them over and over again.

I think Esther Averill's work takes me back to a more innocent age. As cliché as that sounds, it is true. Also, her books flawlessly combine two of my true loves: children's literature and cats!
I'm not sure if I would refer to her illustrations as "art," nor to Ms. Averill as an artist. Her pictures are simple, two tone sketches, black lines and hatchings off set with an occasional splash of red. They are, however, somehow perfect and always endearing. There is nothing harmful and so much beautiful in the Cat Club books about shy Jenny Linsky and her friends, and still the little black cat with the soft red scarf travels the world and has great adventures.
The use of words is perfect, and I think that Jenny Goes to Sea is the perfect read-aloud step between Winnie the Pooh and My Father's Dragon. If you start a child with shy but brave and honest heroes like Jenny, you can spark their sense of adventure without robbing them of their innocence. Yes, this is a children's book (Don't say I told you otherwise. Your teens and preteens want bolder works than the Cat Club), but it is a five star children's book. Treasure it!