Captains of the City Streets – Esther Averill
Captains of the City Streets, written and illustrated by Esther Averill / ISBN 9781590171745 / 164-page hardback from The New York Review Children’s Collection (first published in 1972)
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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.
“Esther Averill’s collection of Jenny Linsky books deserves special mention…. Told in clear, simple language that will appeal to younger children, all of these stories are delightful and festooned with simple illustrations every few pages that enhance, but never dominate, the melodious text.”—The San Francisco Chronicle
“We never can get enough of Jenny, one of our favorite literary cats. She has style, verve, and the gentlest way of having a good time. We welcome heartily the account of her trip around the world.” –New York Herald Tribune
