DIGBY AND KATE AND THE BEAUTIFUL DAY

This third installment in the Digby and Kate saga finds the dog and cat chums engaged in their usual benign contumacy. In five quick vignettes, the pair lock horns: In one, Kate wants to play checkers, but she also wants to make the rules, spontaneously, during play; in another, Digby bores Kate silly with his absorption in his new camera, so she pockets the device when it is her turn; later Digby despairs about going for a walk when it starts to rain—``Now we cannot go for a walk. We cannot feel the sun on our heads. We cannot run in the grass. We cannot pick flowers''—but Kate disagrees and makes sure Digby has fun in the rain. So it goes. Digby and Kate may have their tiffs, but they work through them as one or the other cleverly and gently turns the tables. Theirs is a wished-for world, intimate and frank. For the illustrations, which are full of funny asides, Winborn splices Garth Williams's warmth with Edward Koren's droll flippancy. (Picture book. 6-9)