This is the book with Pickles that I so dearly remembered when I picked up the first Jenny book! It was really nice to revisit it and see what leaped back out of my memory from so long ago. It’s about a distinctive-looking cat, yellow with black round spots, who seems to be an alley cat of sorts- he lives in a barrel in a yard. Likes his independence. Chases others cats, so the cats that live in the building shun him. But a lady thinks that he has some good traits too, that can be brought out by a change of environment. She brings him into the house, which is comfortable, but doesn’t suit him. He’s soon bored and wants to be outside in his barrel again. He chases a little cat up a tree and gets stuck there himself. Has to be rescued by firemen. They bring him down and offer him to the lady but she says he’s not really her cat. The firemen admire Pickles and take him back to the firehouse where he settles in. He watches the firemen and copies what they do- learning to slide down the fireman’s pole (trying again and again until he can do it), balance on the seat of the speeding firetruck, and helping to hold the hose and put out fires. His efforts are noticed and he’s made an official “firecat”. Pickles is proud of his new job. And when there’s another call to rescue a cat stuck up in a tree, Pickles himself goes up the ladder to bring her down. It’s nice to see a story about a somewhat rambunctious, naughty character who isn’t forced to change but found a place that suits his abilities and shapes them into something beneficial.
Note: I don’t have a category for ‘early readers’ but that’s what level this book is. More advanced than a picture book, few and short chapters with simple sentences. Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 5/27/24.
