Captains of the City Streets (New York Review Children's Collection)

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

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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.

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