Jenny Linksy is a small black cat who sports a red scarf and lives in New York City’s Greenwich Village with Captain Tinker, her human companion. Captain Tinker rescued Jenny as a kitten while she was being chased by a dog. Jenny is a shy but curious cat who becomes fascinated by the meetings of the Cat Club which take place outside her window every night under a maple tree. Jenny soon realizes that each member of the club has a talent: one sings, another reads, and another dances. But Jenny lacks a talent and soon hides away indoors despite members of the club encouraging her to join them. As winter approaches, Jenny tells the Captain that she’d like to learn ice-skating. The Captain crafts a set of skates for her, and she quickly takes to the ice rink while members of the Cat Club cheer her on. In the end, the members vote unanimously to accept her to the club.
In 1944, American author Esther Averill’s first book in the Cat Club series was published by Harper publishers: The Cat Club; or, the Life and Times of Jenny Linsky.
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In School for Cats (1947), the second volume of the series, Jenny is sent to school in the countryside while Captain Tinker is away at sea. Again, she’s shy and limits her interactions with other cats, especially Pickles, the cat who usually lives in a fire station and who enjoys scaring other cats at the school. When it’s time to go to bed, Pickles terrorizes her with his hook and ladder truck until Jenny runs away. Before she leaves permanently, she ponders disappointing Captain Tinker and all the great experiences she’ll miss at school, and she returns. In the end, she gathers her courage, confronts Pickles, and they become friends.
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The remaining books in the series continue with similar themes and occasionally introduce new characters such as Pickles the Fire Cat and Tom the Hotel Cat. Reading these stories, it becomes apparent why they appeal to children: they address universal challenges and emotions, such as belonging, curiosity, bullying, homesickness, loneliness, friendship, fear, and shyness. Illustrations drawn by Averill are plentiful, accessible, and charming. Averill received the New York Times Best Children’s Book of the Year Award for Jenny’s Birthday Book in 1954.
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Esther Holden Averill was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1902. As a teenager, she worked as a cartoonist for a local newspaper before attending Vassar College and graduating in 1923 with honors. Following graduation, she served briefly as an editorial staffer for Women’s Wear Daily but moved to France in 1925. She found work in Paris as an associate for a decorative arts photojournalist, writing captions for stories on fashion, literature, and music.
In 1929, she began working for an American stationery company selecting modern French designs, which is where she was introduced to Lila Stanley and Russian illustrator and future Caldecott award winner Feodor Rojankofsky. Rojankofsky showed them an ABC book that he had produced in Warsaw and Averill and Stanley were astounded by the colorful illustrations. Despite knowing little about publishing and children’s literature, they became determined to publish a children’s book illustrated by Rojankofsky. In 1931, Averill and Stanley founded the Domino Press and published their first title: Daniel Boone; les aventures d’un chasseur américain parmi les peaux-rouges with color illustrations by Rojankofsky. It was a great success, and the press continued publishing children’s books until their last title, Tales of Poindi, in 1938.
Averill returned to the United States three years later in 1941, took up residence in New York City’s Greenwich Village, and soon began working for the New York Public Library’s children’s section. Her interest in producing children’s books hadn’t waned, and she combined her cartooning skills and love of cats to create the story of Jenny and the Cat Club. The series was loved by millions of American children and became Averill’s most popular children’s books. The cats who appear in her books were based on her own cats, or cats she knew, and the venues within the stories are largely from Greenwich Village and New York City. Many of these titles are still in print today through New York Review Books, and HarperCollins continues to publish Fire Cat as part of their “I Can Read” series.
![Illustration cats led by Jenny walking beneath arch [likely the Washington Square Arch]. Averill, Esther. When Jenny Lost Her Scarf. New York: Harper, 1951.](https://blogs.loc.gov/bibliomania/files/2025/08/mm-cc-wjlhs-02-297x300.jpg) Averill, Esther. When Jenny Lost Her Scarf. New York: Harper, 1951. |
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Esther Averill passed away in New York in 1992. She left the literary rights to all her works and those of the Domino Press to the Library of Congress. Royalties from the publication and sales of her stories replenish the Children’s Literature Gift Fund, which in turn funds additional acquisitions of rare children’s titles. The Rare Book and Special Collections Division holds first editions of every title in the Cat Club series, as well as other children’s book titles written by Averill.
Averill, Esther. The Cat Club; or, The Life and Times of Jenny Linsky. New York: Harper, 1944.
List of Titles in the Cat Club Series with Links to Their Catalog Records
The Cat Club (1944) – https://lccn.loc.gov/44003239
The School for Cats (1947) – https://lccn.loc.gov/47030683
Jenny’s First Party (1948) – https://lccn.loc.gov/48005694
Jenny’s Moonlight Adventure (1949) – https://lccn.loc.gov/49008288
When Jenny Lost Her Scarf (1951) – https://lccn.loc.gov/51011654
Jenny’s Adopted Brothers (1952) – https://lccn.loc.gov/52007849
How the Brothers Joined the Cat Club (1953) – https://lccn.loc.gov/53007592
Jenny’s Birthday Book (1954) – https://lccn.loc.gov/54006589
Jenny Goes to Sea (1957) – https://lccn.loc.gov/57009261
Jenny’s Bedside Book (1959) – https://lccn.loc.gov/59008963
The Fire Cat (1960) – https://lccn.loc.gov/60010234
The Hotel Cat (1969) – https://lccn.loc.gov/74077941
Captains of the City Streets (1972) – https://lccn.loc.gov/72076500
Sources and Further Reading
“Jenny and The Cat Club: A Fictional World Based in the Real Greenwich Village,” from Off the Grid Village Preservation Blog. Posted January 10, 2024, by Dena Tasse-Winter.
“Esther Averill” on Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Averill
Esther Averill Collection, Children’s Literature Research Collections, University of Minnesota.
http://special.lib.umn.edu/findaid/xml/CLRC-1214.xml
Esther Averill Papers, Special Collections at The University of Southern Mississippi (de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection).
https://specialcollections.usm.edu/repositories/4/resources/36