Captains of the City Streets: A Jenny's Cat Club Book

The Cat Club

by Esther Averill

Captains of the City Streets is another trip into the world of the legendary Cat Club of Greenwich Village. Two adventurous young cats—Sinbad and the Duke—are best friends who share a "trampish love of the free and easy life." They travel together, away from the tall buildings of the north, in search of a home where they can practice the skip and shuffle of their boxing technique. With luck, they find themselves proud residents of their very own home—an abandoned shack in an overgrown garden. Food is scarce until one man, an old sea captain new to the neighborhood, notices them and becomes their "Master of the Supper Nook."

When the duo follow their new Master home, they witness one of the first meetings of the famous Cat Club. Sinbad and the Duke decide they don't need the "rules and obligations" of membership in any club; but as they join in its business and frolics, they realize that perhaps the Club needs them.

Ready for any challenge, Sinbad and the Duke, the Captains of the City Streets, charm the Cat Club's admirers with their free spirits and "nifty" street smarts, as they grow up and ultimately find friendship and a place where they belong.

Genres: Cats, Childrens, Fiction, Chapter Books, Friendship, Animals, Picture Books

147 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Esther Averill (1902-1992) began her career as a storyteller drawing cartoons for her local newspaper. After graduating from Vassar College in 1923, she moved first to New York City and then to Paris, where she founded her own publishing company. The Domino Press introduced American readers to artists from all over the world, including Feodor Rojankovsky, who later won a Caldecott Award. In 1941, Esther Averill returned to the United States and found a job in the New York Public Library while continuing her work as a publisher. She wrote her first book about the red-scarfed, mild-mannered cat Jenny Linsky in 1944, modeling its heroine on her own shy cat. Esther Averill would eventually write twelve more tales about Miss Linsky and her friends (including the I Can Read Book, The Fire Cat), each of which was eagerly awaited by children all over the United States (and their parents, too).

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I noted in my review of Averill's Jenny and the Cat Club , one of my favorite "literary" characters as a child was Pickles the cat, who finds his purpose in the poignant early reader, The Fire Cat . Imagine my surprise and delight, these many years later, upon discovering that Averill wrote an entire series devoted to the cats of New York City's Greenwich Village.

Recently reprinted as part of the New York Review Children's Collection, which has been responsible for rescuing so many wonderful books from an undeserved obscurity, Captains of the City Streets follows the adventures of Sinbad and The Duke - two "tramp cats" who find their way to Greenwich Village, where they eventually become part of the local "Cat Club."

Although I have enjoyed all of Averill's books, it is Captains... which comes the closest to duplicating the poignant charm of The Fire Cat . The story of two older cats - made homeless by the deaths of their elderly humans, who stick together in a lonely and frightening world, eventually winning a place for themselves - it speaks to deeper issues than some of the other titles in the Jenny Linsky series.

I will confess to being an unabashed cat lover, and there is no doubt that I have an extremely low tolerance for scenes of feline suffering. I was surprised however, to find myself tearing up while reading this simple but charming chapter-book. Perhaps the recent death of my own cat, who had been a part of my life for sixteen years, made me especially susceptible. However that may be, Captains of the City Streets is an engaging story, accompanied by Averill's charming illustrations, and I heartily recommend it to all young (or old) cat lovers.

[Beth Cato · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved several of Averill's other books when I was young, as they were available at my hometown library, but I never read this book. I found it at a library used book sale this year. It's a fantastic, fun read filled vivid characters and Averill's distinctive childlike art. The story follows two young tramp-cats who think they'll defy the world and manage on their own, but then they find a neighborhood cat club and are gradually won over to become members.

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a copy of The Fire Cat as a child, and adored it. I was a grown adult before I ever realized there were other books about the cats of old New York. Probably it was the first New York Review edition of Jenny and the Cat Club: A Collection of Favorite Stories about Jenny Linsky (New York Review Children's Collection) by unknown. The various books have appealed to me greatly. But this one, this one will be my favorite going forward.

It's interesting that Averill published this book so late. I suspect she wrote this prequel almost 30 years after Jenny based on nothing but the feel of it. The story starts with two young tramps arriving at a restaurant widely known for handouts to cats. That meal, so tactfully and kindly given, and the warm welcome given by Patchy Pete to Sinbad and the Duke combine to suggest to me that this was written by the sadder-but-wiser girl. Someone far enough removed from the Depression distill a sweetness from that misery.

It's a lovely book about longing for a home of one's own and about getting enough distance from grief to try belonging again. It's a brave story as well as a kind one. And although Averill is quite good at presenting her cast as cats-not-humans (even Sinbad and the Duke who are so close they speak with one voice), they are also people who become better under a regime of care. I am so pleased that Sinbad and the Duke have had one another to rely on, and that when given a chance, they become reliable to others.

Truly, a lovely book, especially for one that has so much fighting.

Personal copy

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another sweet story from The Jenny's Cat Club group. I assumed that without Jenny or Pickles being the main story that this book wouldn't rank up there with the best. I was very wrong. Loved it.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sinbad and The Duke had often seen the likes of them. Such tramps were the broken-hearted ones, the real loners. Sinbad and The Duke were not real loners. They lived by themselves, but they had each other. They were buddies.

Happy was Sinbad, happy was The Duke at that first glimpse of one another in that deserted cellar. There they became buddies and swore never to part.

"...A little conversation after a feast like this adds to the evening's pleasures."

"...Ah, there's nothing like a buddy. I myself once had one. Then, woe is me, I lost him, killed by a car. So now I travel alone. But I've learned to find company in the strange sights that meet my eyes and in the strange stories that befall my ears.... You look like young tramps with a future."

"Maybe you'll find your dream house. Maybe you'll manage to live by stealing and not get driven out with sticks and stones. But wither my whiskers, if you'll be able to go on doing always as you please to please yourselves. You'll have lost your freedom." "Why?" "Because... if you settle down in a house of your own, you'll become a part of your neighborhood. Then little duties toward your neighbors will arise. ... Never say I didn't warn you... But I suppose young fellas like you must learn for yourselves and work things out for yourselves. And who am I to know how it will end?"

...the buddies felt they would never wish for anyone except themselves.

"A pet cat was a cat who had a home in the human world and as a consequence he had household obligations..." "What a narrow life a pet cat leads." ... It is true that Sinbad and The Duke themselves had once been pets - happy, grateful pets. ... Now they were tramps, and neither the house of their own nor the supper nook had changed their trampish love of the free and easy life. The free and easy life, for these young tramps, meant the right to get up when they pleased and go to bed when they pleased, and during the rest of the time to roam wherever they pleased or to do whatever elese they pleased to please their own sweet selves.

"Old sea captains grow weary of all the rolling water in the world. That's why, in the end, they like the feel of grass and solid earth beneath their feet." ... "...An old sea captain, such as ours, who has spent his life on ships, has had plenty of time in which to study the nature of cats. He has learned that cats, however much they may love humans, need moments of privacy in which to pursue their own thoughts."

"The free and easy life for us," they thought. And they felt happy that they could now enjoy this kind of life. For they had their own house, and a beautifully run supper nook, and nothing to do but to live as they pleased-- to please themselves.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m still enchanted with the cat club books, written and illustrated by Esther Averill. In this volume, two ragged street cats, Sinbad and the Duke, want to join the cat club. However, they don’t have any obvious skills, except for boxing with each other. That isn’t something that will benefit the club, so they can’t be admitted. At the meetings, they have to sit in the visitors’ row, while their protégé, Macaroni, now a member, shows off his dancing skills. Finally everyone realizes they have one of the most important skills of all: a familiarity with the streets of New York. They start leading outings on the streets and delivering messages, and become, finally, important members of the cat club. All this might sound sort of silly, but it’s totally engaging.

[Kimberly McCollum · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bedtime story for my boys. My youngest is obsessed with cats and Jenny Linski is his favorite story-book character. Jenny’s appearance in this story was brief, but both of my boys loved this one.

[Merry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of an old charming series about cats in New York City that has recently been re-issued.

[Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old favorite I was happy to find again.

[Colette! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved: The 1930s-era slang and sentence cadence, the foray into the cat world beyond Jenny and Pickles

Could have done without: most of the Cat Club meetings

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a little draggy in the beginning but ended up being a rather interesting story.

[Heidi Burkhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darling story about some adventuresome cats who love the vagabond life. They eventually find shelter and regular meals, and later a group of friends.

A bit old fashioned, but completely delightful. The author also illustrated her book.

[ElizabethAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Stars

We follow 2 stray cats, Sinbad and The Duke, through the streets of New York as they navigate the city, make friends, and find family. A simple, sweet, utterly charming story.

[Glenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Duke and Sinbad's story. All the characters are so adorable!

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captains of the City Streets is a children's novel by Esther Averill originally published in 1972. Two cats star in Captains of the City Street. In this one, the author provides the back story for two cats who have been a part of essentially the whole series. Sinbad and The Duke. These two stray cats are best buddies. They haven't been "owned" by a human in what seems like a very long time by cat reckoning. They are street cats, traveling cats, going from city to city to city, seeing all there is to see, always seeking handouts, but never becoming dependent on any one human. The two travel to "old New York." They are looking for a place of their own, a safe place to stay. They find it. They also find one old man who dependably gives them food day after day on their own terms. He comes and goes leaving the food, never trying to approach the cats, never pushing a relationship. The two cats slowly but surely decide that maybe just maybe humans aren't all that bad. That is when they stumble upon the Cat Club. They learn that the kind human is Captain Tinker. The first cat they befriend is Macaroni. The two are invited to join the Cat Club, but, are hesitant. Do they want to stick around that long? Do they want the responsibility?

I liked meeting Sinbad and Duke. The stories that focus on Jenny certainly mention these two quite a bit, but, this is the first time that readers really learn about these two in detail. It is a fun book.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't remember reading this as a child-- my remembrance of the Cat Club starts with Jenny Linsky's introduction-- so I was charmed by this tale of two displaced young strays who set out just to find a small home and are slowly drawn into the circle of the Cat Club. Though Sinbad and The Duke don't really have differentiated personalities, their adventures, and the characters they meet, are worth reading. The old hobo, Pete, who directs them to Old Town New York and critiques their boxing; Macaroni as a young and vulnerable cat new to the city; and the stuffy Mr. President... also the far-glimpse figure of Captain Tom... Delightful. Modern readers will be appalled that pet house cats are allowed to roam free about the streets, but the Cat Club could hardly exist without this trope... Today's cabin'd, cribb'd and confined youngsters may enjoy this harkening back to a freer, if less safe, day for children and cats.

[Friend of Pixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pre-quel to the other Jenny Linsky books, this story focuses on the two "tramps" Sinbad and The Duke and how they end up joining the Cat Club. Logan liked it well enough, but he missed Jenny. His favorite part was when Sinbad and The Duke befriend young Macaroni, the "fancy dancer" and decide that even though *they* don't want to join the Cat Club because of its pesky "Rules and Obligations," they will help lonely, bored Macaroni to navigate the city streets every night so that he can join.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, I loved finding out more about these two cats. The books I remember reading when I was a child were so focused on Jenny, that I always thought it a shame that we didn't get to find out more about the others. This is a very early Cat Club story - from the incarnation of the club itself. Very very good, and so worth reading.

[Erica-Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the other "Jenny the Cat" books in this series, it's still a lovely read-a-loud with lots of old, post-War New York charm. They don't write these kinds of chapter books anymore, so it's lucky these are back in print. If you or your kids are fans of Lyle the Crocodile, and The Cricket in Times Square, this is the perfect companion story.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The kids got bored with this one. So the two star-rating is more for my kids than for the book. They are "just ok." :)

[Machim]

Children's Books

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice enough story with cats as the characters. Felt somewhat old-fashioned. Not for me, but can see how kids might like this if they're into animal characters.

[Micheline Jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very very sweet

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son loves the whole series of Esther Averill's Jenny books. We've read through all of the NYRB reissues at least 4 times now. Totally a hit!

[massmarketbareback · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice, cute story