Jennifer and Josephine is a 1973 book by Bill Peet.
Josephine, a stray cat, has a litter of kittens in an old car, Jennifer, and decides to make the car her home. Unfortunately, both their lives are disrupted when a hasty traveling salesman buys Jennifer and drives her away. With nothing else to do, Josephine hitches a ride.
This book includes examples of the following tropes:
- Cats Are Mean: Inverted; Josephine is a harmless, quiet cat who would just like to be left in peace. While she hates Mr. Frenzy's driving style, she never does anything to him. When a much more careful farm family adopts Jennifer, Josephine lives in perfect harmony with them.
- Drives Like Crazy: Mr. Frenzy is a more realistic example; he never slows down (even for a train). He tries to pass on a hill, which ends up forcing him to drive Jennifer down a riverbank to avoid oncoming traffic. Unlike many examples, the consequences are realistically drastic, though luckily not fatal.
- Fatal Flaw: Mr. Frenzy's perpetual hurriedness causes trouble for everyone, including himself. His unsafe driving practices (because he can't wait) nearly result in a collision twice. After Jennifer ends up in a ditch, he grabs his suitcases and walks away into the rain because he can't wait for it to stop.
- Homeless Hero: It never reaches this point, but Josephine is very fond of her home in the car and hurries home from foraging sessions in the fear that someone will have taken Jennifer apart. When Mr. Frenzy buys the car, she hops in the backseat after him because it's the only home she has. Ultimately, he abandons Jennifer on a riverbank and Josephine runs to find help before the car can be swept away.
- Hostile Weather: One of the locals warns Mr. Frenzy against trying to drive, saying that the roads are hilly and curvy and a storm is coming. Mr. Frenzy refuses to wait, which doesn't work out for him.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Josephine never hears the salesman's name, so she just nicknames him "Mr. Frenzy" after his habit of hurrying everywhere, no matter how unpleasant or dangerous it is.
- Racing the Train: Mr. Frenzy refuses to wait for a train and races it to the crossing. Fortunately, he, Jennifer, and Josephine manage to beat it, but it's a very close thing. Josephine wishes the near miss would teach Mr. Frenzy to take more care, but she knows that he'll most likely ignore the lesson.
- Rule of Three: Mr. Frenzy puts Jennifer through three dangerous incidents before leaving her.
