The start of the school year got us thinking about Jenny Linsky's first days at school, and how scary they were for her. As you know, the most common word used to describe Jenny Linsky is "shy"—so it wasn't easy for her to adjust to life at the boarding school she went to when the Captain was "obliged" to go away to sea. At first Jenny was intimidated by all the things the other cats already knew. For instance, this little tune:
"If you will learn manners,"
The dear Teacher said,
"Then you shall have Catnip
Before going to bed.""Oh give us our Catnip,"
The kittens insisted.
"Without any Catnip
Our Manners get twisted.""Untwist your best Manners,"
The kind Teacher said,
"For you shall have Catnip
Before going to bed."
and they all lined right up for their catnip before Jenny had any idea what was going on.
To make matters worse, that brash creature, Pickles the Firecat (who might be familiar from his own book) picked on Jenny mercilessly, as you can see from the pages below.
We don't want to give anything away, but in the end, Jenny does manage to gather courage, and make new friends at The School for Cats—including the formidable Pickles.
The School for Cats was originally published in 1947 and the design of the title page below has a surprising Bauhaus flavor. Look at that use of Futura, which complements Averill's simple drawings and at the same time suggests a schoolroom ABC chart. Someone very hip must've been designing children's books for Harper (Jenny's original publisher) back then!
Thanks for making these available. My kids ate them up. The stories are remarkably fresh and the art is wonderful.
Posted by: Tripp | September 14, 2009 at 02:39 AM