Jennie (Collins Modern Classics)

Product Information

The author is American, the book was first published in 1950 and contains a couple of race-related terms which nowadays would be considered inappropriate. Of course I'm speaking of the books like 'Jennie' - books that sustain you and strengthen you, books that teach you how to be human. He awakens as a white kitten, immediately to be tossed out of his London townhouse and onto the cruel streets of London. Written so long ago, the style is probably a little dated, but this wonderful imagining of the life of a cat in a big city, and the impact of the relationships of pets, is heartwarming. This does sound rather lovely, though – there’s something very special about revisiting those books from our past that really matter to us, isn’t there?

Sounds strange to describe it that way, but it was a wonderful cat story and will be appreciated by anyone who loves cats! I recently purchased a second-hand edition of 'Jennie' by Paul Gallico for a cat-loving friend of mine who had not come across the book before.

Paul Gallico (1897 – 1976) was a lover of cats and wrote other stories and collections of poems about them. Okay, so maybe you aren't as obsessed with storytelling as I am, and you don't have these experiences. If you love books featuring cats or animal characters, or even if you love books featuring beautiful friendships, I will highly recommend ‘ Jennie‘. Peter must learn the intricacies of being able to wash himself, the difference between the game of catching your breakfast mouse and killing a deadly rat, cat courtesy, the rules of cat conflict, how to open dustbins – and much more.

One day, he is following a stray cat through the streets when he is knocked down and seriously hurt.Peter is desperate for a pet - his mother is more interested in parties, his father away in the army, but he isn't allowed the cat he craves. Paul Gallico’s descriptions of cats and their lives is quite detailed and it looks like they were based on real observations. I also loved the parts where Jennie inducts Peter into the life of a cat and teaches him survival skills. We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic.

And I have occasionally read it again, and it’s similarly cats-eye view orientated successor, Thomasina. By the end of the book Peter has taken on his role as a cat completely, rarely thinking of his old life as a boy and ready to battle the same cat he met with in the beginning for ownership of Jennie.If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. J K Rowling also excels at this; she has said her favorite book growing up was Gallico's "Manxmouse. His adventures begin because he doesn't know the first thing about being a cat and Jennie takes him under her wing, so to speak, to teach him everything that a cat ought to know.