A review by corncobwebs
The School for Cats by Esther Averill

I read this one on the day I found out that Elliott Rodger killed a bunch of college students in California. Like a dum dum, I watched the video he made of himself talking about his murder plans and the reasons behind them. It kind of destroyed me, so the only thing I could think to do was read the cheeriest book out of my collection of children's books. While I remained disturbed for days, this book helped lift my spirits that evening. It's about a little black cat named Jenny Linsky (!) whose owner sends her to a school for cats for the summer. She's very apprehensive, and apprehension turns to fear when a jerky little guy named Pickles keeps chasing her on his toy fire engine. She runs away, but a chance encounter with two charming good-time cats convinces her to give school a second try. Pickles is still an jerk, but Jenny learns that there's also lots of fun to be had at school. The writing isn't great, but it has an old-timey lilt to it, and that gives it charm. The best part of the book is the illustrations, which are so adorable I can hardly stand it. This book definitely deserves to be a classic, and I'm going to do my best to keep putting it in the hands of kids and caregivers! Long live Jenny - thanks for cheering me up when the world seemed unspeakably depressing.