Month: June 2024

Two storylines that overlap in the end. One is of a wolf pack, namely the older leader whose strength is failing. It’s the end of winter, and the wolves are struggling to find enough food. The old wolf encounters a raven who after a lot of tricky wordplay and mockery, says she’ll lead him to an elk herd, if he promises to let the ravens feast on their kill. His attempt all goes awry- both loosing trust in his followers, his chance at capturing a meal, and the tentative friendship of the raven. Worse, he gets injured and is deserted by the pack. The parallel story is of a boy just turned thirteen, whose favorite pastime is playing a video game where he’s a bowhunter in a jungle. He thinks he’s pretty good at the game and longs to use a real weapon. Is ecstatic when he gets a real bow set for his birthday. He’s overeager to learn to shoot even though warned not to use it until he’s had some instruction. Tries his hand at things anyway when he’s home alone, and makes some stupid choices. Ends up in the woods near the place where the injured wolf was left for dead by his pack. When he finds the wolf, his first impression is that it’s a dog, his second that he was to blame for its injury, and then he wants to help. But as he comes closer, the wolf’s only idea is that he must defend himself, full of fear and pain . . . you think this encounter isn’t going to end well, but I was pleasantly surprised. Only a bit baffled at the end by how something in the video game later, seemed to reflect what happened out in the woods with the wolf and the raven. Glad too that the kid seemed to learn a lesson: that killing things isn’t at all fun, he felt shame and fear when he thought he’d actually hurt something. It reminded me a bit of One-Eyed Cat, though this one has far less of the heavy guilt throughout.

Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 6/5/24.

I think of all the “Jenny” books, this one is my favorite so far. It’s not a bunch of short stories together like the others, but a proper little chapter book. And the main character is a different cat who happens to meet Jenny and the others mid-story. At first he’s a stray, gets taken in by the furnace man in a city hotel, who lets him stay in the basement as he does a good job keeping the mice and rats away. Tom, our feline protagonist, gets pretty good at his job and soon wants to explore the rest of the hotel. He takes on a self-appointed guardian role, patrolling all the floors at night. There’s no mice to chase up there, but he soon finds out by sniffing at the doors which rooms have guests who brought a cat with them.

At first Tom’s reaction is to threaten these cats to stay put and cause no trouble- he feels like they’re in his territory. But he meets a kind old lady who lives in the hotel and can somehow “speak ‘cat’ ” and gives him advice. She says he should make the cat guests feel welcome instead. Tom tries to change his approach, but it takes some practice. He gets better with a little made-up welcome speech he rehearses. Then comes to a room one night that’s hosting three cats- and they are quite friendly through the door! It’s Jenny and her two adopted brothers, staying with the Captain (because it’s winter and the heating broke in their home). In a few days Jack the sailor cat joins them, and then more and more cats are in other rooms throughout the hotel- because more boilers have burst in older houses during this very cold spell. And they all happen to be the houses around the one yard where the Cat Club meets. So of course all these guest cats know each other, but Tom doesn’t realize that at first. When he does figure it out, he feels quite frantic to keep things under control- he worries that if they get out of their rooms to find each other, it will be chaos or someone will get lost. Even when Sinbad and the Duke, two of the rougher Cat Club members, come to stay in the cellar with him, he doesn’t let on for a long time that their friends are all in rooms upstairs. Of course the Cat Club members eventually find out, and then they are all eager to have a meeting. With Tom’s help they turn it into quite an event, with dancing in an old dusty ballroom. Tom feels a bit out of place at first, but then gets quite a surprise at being honored and recognized by all the other cats for his good work and friendliness.

Why did I like this one better than the others? I’m trying to think that through. Maybe because it felt more cohesive- a real story instead of just some interconnected short chapters. Perhaps because Tom’s character growth, and seeing the Cat Club characters from another perspective, was more interesting. Yes, Jenny getting over her shyness is a main part of all the other books. This one was about an alley cat, full of suspicions and uncertainty at first, who learned how to live in the nice old hotel, how to behave better towards his cat guests, and act differently to keep them as friends. It really was quite nice.

Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 6/4/24.

Jenny the little black cat goes along a sea voyage with her owner, the Captain, and her two adopted ‘brothers’ Checkers and Edward. They are welcomed by the ship’s cat Jack Tar, who shows them around. Jack tells them all about far-away places he’s seen, including Siam, where he says Checker’s ancestors must be from (he thinks Checkers has some Siamese traits). The first place the ship stops is Cape Town, where Jack goes ashore. Our traveling cats feel anxious about this, especially Jenny, who is afraid to walk on the narrow gangplank. They visit with the Captain while their host cat is ashore, learning more about things aboard the ship and its cargo. The next stop is Zanzibar, where all the cats go ashore and meet an Abbyssinian cat who reads their fortunes on their paws. They all wonder how their fortunes will play out- Jenny is supposed to do something brave, Checkers will be naughty, and Edward write a great poem.

Then the ship goes to Singapore, where they meet another ship’s cat on shore leave- who has just finished hopping from one boat to another trying to catch up with his own ship (he was too late when it left the last port). He’s anxiously waiting to see if his original ship arrives as scheduled at this dock, and our protagonist cats help him while away the time by dancing together (the sailor’s hornpipe, of course). His ship does arrive and they gladly see him off, then scramble aboard their own. They suffer through a storm before arriving at their next port: Siam. Here a Siamese cat shows them around on a sampan, and they are all enthralled with the sights, until they realize Checkers is missing. He had wandered off, eager to visit a palace (which was denied when he asked to do so earlier) and see if he can find out more about his heritage. Jack and Edward go off to find him while Jenny performs her act of bravery: standing on the narrow, tilted gangplank to prevent the ship from leaving, giving the other cats time. They do arrive at last, all the cats bolt aboard, greatly relieved. Checkers apologizes for almost making Jack miss his ship. Edward writes a poem about the whole escapade, and the cats happily arrive back home at last- stopping briefly in Hawai’i and the California coast, before finally New York, where Pickles greets them at the dock.

Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 6/1/24.