I picked up Paul Gallico's 'Jennie: A Feline Transformation' a few years ago because the story looked beautiful, but somehow I never got around to reading it. I finally decided a couple of days back that I should take it down from the bookshelf and give it the love it deserved. In Franz Kafka's 'Metamorphosis', a man gets up in the morning and discovers that he has been transformed into a giant bug. What happens to him and how he handles that transformation forms the rest of the story. It is dar...

I'm not kidding, I was *this* close to giving "Jennie: A Feline Transformation" by Paul Gallico a 5-star rating. This book has so much going for it, so let me break down all the good stuff:- First off, this book is about cats!- Secondly, it's about a boy who turns *into* a cat (seriously, my dream come true!)- For such a wildly imaginative premise, the characters feel incredibly real and relatable.- Almost all the cat facts in "Jennie: A Feline Transformation" are spot-on. Paul Gallico clearly d...

This is absolutely one of *those* books. You know the ones I mean, right? The special books. The stand-out books. The kind that deserve to be read, loved, cherished, and sought after whether you're a kid or an adult, now or a hundred years from now. Simply because they tell the truth. Kids these days don't read as much as I did growing up. Movies and electronic gadgets have mostly replaced the incredible joy of diving deep into a book's world. I've heard kids say, 'What's the point of reading? Y...

I never read *Jennie: A Feline Transformation* as a child. I'd never even heard of it. But I trust the NYRB to reprint only the best of the best, and that trust paid off. I felt nostalgic as I read *Jennie: A Feline Transformation*, because it has that timeless quality of the other great books of children's literature. I knew the rhythm of it. And honestly, I can't wait to read this one to my niece and nephew when they're a year or two older. The text was just begging for me to read it aloud.*Je...

This is hands down the best cat book I’ve ever read. It tells the story of Peter, a lonely little eight-year-old English boy. He's got a Scottish nanny whom he loves deeply and a distant, socialite mother who basically ignores him. All he wants is a cat of his own, but his mother can't be bothered. Then, he gets hit by a truck and falls into a coma, though it's like he’s still aware of everything, his soul hovering nearby, watching. Suddenly, he finds he's transformed into a white cat, and his n...

I've been crying since chapter three—just one of the most touching novels I've ever read. Paul Gallico, being a great cat lover, has described their habits and behavior so well (except for that chin-cleaning part! haha) that I felt like I *was* a cat, and I'm already a cat person!This isn't your average kids' book. It's easy to understand, but far from simplistic, and so saturated with sincere emotion...It's amazing how Gallico shows the world through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy who transf...

Can you believe I was named after this book? My mum used to read *Jennie: A Feline Transformation* to us when we were little. Such a great Paul Gallico book!

There are some books from childhood that just stick with you, right? The ones where you can still remember the plot, and the characters feel like your best friends or heroes, even when you're pushing 60. Okay, maybe you're not quite as obsessed with storytelling as I am, and you don't get that feeling. If that's you, you can probably stop reading now, because *Jennie: A Feline Transformation* by Paul Gallico is one of *those* books, and you probably won't get it.I didn't own *Jennie: A Feline Tr...

This book had me in tears like almost no other. It's a gorgeous story with a bittersweet conclusion. It speaks to the isolation, the wretched abuse and abandonment of the forgotten, and the simple joys of home, love, and family. If you're looking for emotional book reviews, I highly recommend "Jennie: A Feline Transformation" by Paul Gallico.

I had no idea when a friend (thanks, Kendall!) lent me Jennie: A Feline Transformation, that I was already familiar with some of Paul Gallico's other work. Turns out, Gallico was a prominent sports writer in the '20s and '30s, writing for the New York Daily News. His sportswriting career really took off when he asked to spar with Jack Dempsey (and wrote about what it felt like to get knocked out by him!). He also wrote about catching Dizzy Dean's fastball and golfing with Bobby Jones. He left sp...