The Silent Miaow (1964) purports to be a guide written by a cat, "translated from the feline", on how to obtain, captivate, and dominate a human family. Illustrated with photographs by Suzanne Szasz, it is considered a classic by cat lovers. Other Gallico cat books include Jennie (1950) (American title The Abandoned), Thomasina, the Cat Who Thought She Was God (1957), filmed in 1964 by the Walt Disney Studios as The Three Lives of Thomasina (which was very popular in the former USSR in the early 1990s, inspiring the Russian remake Bezumnaya Lori), and Honorable Cat (1972), a book of poetry and essays about cats. In his New York Times obituary, Molly Ivins said that "to say that Mr. Gallico was prolific hardly begins to describe his output." [1] He wrote 41 books and numerous short stories, 20 theatrical movies, 12 TV movies, and had a TV series based on his Hiram Holliday short stories.

I love cats more than anything. My tortie, Tali, is the light of my life. Books about animals are easy wins with me. In 1955, Gallico took an automobile tour of the United States, traveling some 10,000 miles, sponsored by Reader's Digest. [9] He wrote that "it had been almost twenty years since I had traveled extensively through my own country and the changes brought about by two decades would thus stand out." [9] Several stories resulted. I never read THE ABANDONED 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 THE ABANDONED, 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.

Paul Gallico Press Reviews

Amazingly, Gallico was born in America and spent most of his life there. He did travel, and lived outside the US from 1950 until his death in 1976, but still. He's got the Queen's English down pat and his London is authentic enough to fool an Englishman. I assumed he was English until I finished the book and looked up information about its history. Such a beautiful, simple, and poignant story, where all of the characters are such a joy to read about and sympathize with... Paul Gallico (1897 – 1976) was a lover of cats and wrote other stories and collections of poems about them. His knowledge is poured into this novel, and it will make you look at cats in a whole new way. His observations of how they feel and act in certain situations eg. When in doubt – Wash!’ are spot on. Just read this wonderful story then watch your own cat to see what I mean.

I can't stress enough the disappointment of not knowing what will become of Jennie. Ugh honestly the ending is just so unsatisfying. Allardice, Lisa (December 19, 2011). "Winter reads: The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico". The Guardian . Retrieved October 13, 2021.

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Paul William Gallico (July 26, 1897 – July 15, 1976) was an American novelist and short story and sports writer. [1] Many of his works were adapted for motion pictures. He is perhaps best remembered for The Snow Goose, his most critically successful book, for the novel The Poseidon Adventure, primarily through the 1972 film adaptation, and for four novels about the beloved character of Mrs. Harris. I am one of those guys who cannot stand bad ending. And I count the ending of this book as a bad ending because: In the late 1930s, he abandoned sports writing for fiction, first writing an essay about this decision entitled "Farewell to Sport" (published in an anthology of his sports writing, also titled Farewell to Sport (1938)), and became a successful writer of short stories for magazines, many appearing in the then-premier fiction outlet, The Saturday Evening Post. His novella The Snow Goose and other works are expanded versions of his magazine stories. This book is no longer in print in either the US or the UK, However, second-hand editions are reasonable easy to find - and it is not difficult to find quite nice first editions. Gallico, Paul (1953). "The savage beast in us". In Birmingham, Frederic A. (ed.). The girls from Esquire. London: Arthur Barker. pp.249–255.

Summary

Gallico was born in New York City in 1897. His father was the Italian concert pianist, composer and music teacher Paolo Gallico ( Trieste, May 13, 1868 – New York, July 6, 1955), and his mother, Hortense Erlich, came from Austria; they had emigrated to New York in 1895. Gallico's graduation from Columbia University was delayed to 1921, having served a year and a half in the United States Army during World War I. [2] He first achieved notice in the 1920s as a sportswriter, sports columnist, and sports editor of the New York Daily News. Peter is a little 8-year-old boy who loves cats. He lives with his mother and father in London. His father is gone a good deal, being in the military, and his mother is lonely and goes out with her friends a lot, leaving Peter with his "Scotch nanny." Peter is lonely, too, but his parents seem u Almost all the facts about cat in this book are true. The writer clearly has done an amazing job on researching cats.

In 1937, in Gallico's "Farewell to Sport" he stated, "For all her occasional beauty and unquestioned courage, there has always been something faintly ridiculous about the big-time lady athletes." This book actually has a bit of personal history for me: I brought it for 10p at my school library ages ago, and it took me a while to summon the motivation to read a clearly old book. When I did, I found myself appreciating it more as I got older, and remembered that it was mostly for the gorgeous cat on the front, plus feeling sorry that so many old books were being sold, that got me this tale. The Love of Seven Dolls (1954 - adapted from his short story "The Man Who Hated People" (1950) after the success of the 1953 movie "Lili" adapted from the same story - you might know the song "Hi Lili Hi Lo" from that movie)Paul William Gallico was born in New York City, on 26th July, 1897. His father was an Italian, and his mother came from Austria; they emigrated to New York in 1895. Apparently, according to cat law, a female cat must go with a male cat once he has claimed ownership of her. And if she wants to go with another cat, the two 'males' must fight it out to the death. And she can't even witness it, she has to remain hidden until the victor comes to claim her and she must go with that victor. The television series The Adventures of Hiram Holliday (starring Wally Cox) was adapted from a series of Gallico's stories about a newspaper proofreader who had many adventures dealing with Nazis and spies in Europe on the eve of World War II. I loved 'Jennie'. Peter's story was fascinating. But my favourite character in the book was Jennie. Jennie is one of coolest, most stylish, awesome cats in literature. I loved her. Though I loved the whole book, my favourite part of the book was the middle part which runs to around six chapters in which Jennie and Peter board a ship and go to Glasgow. The ship has got a motley crew who are hilarious and inefficient (the captain hates sailing, one of the sailors writes cowboy stories, another sailor is big and intimidating but he likes doing embroideries), but the crew members are warm, affectionate and beautiful in surprising ways. The way they take in Jennie and Peter and the hilarious, wonderful adventures that happen during the course of the trip is beautiful to read. I also loved the parts where Jennie inducts Peter into the life of a cat and teaches him survival skills. Paul Gallico's descriptions of cats and their lives is quite detailed and it looks like they were based on real observations. He had twenty three cats at home and it looks like that gave him a lot of opportunities to observe cats and their ways. Towards the end of the book, I thought that something heartbreaking would happen - either Peter or Jennie would die, or Peter would become a human being again and that would be the end of their friendship. But the author springs up a third ending which was very surprising. I cried after I read the ending.