WAY HOME

From Australia, a stunningly illustrated depiction of a homeless boy and his kitten. Shane frequents a large city's gloomy alleys, where crooked gates and makeshift sheds of old brick are the dark backside of the well-lit, prosperous buildings looming above. There Shane finds a ``clever baby thing...a tight little ball of fierce cat,'' talks gently until its growls subside, and tucks it inside his jacket. Setting off for ``home,'' they pass a window where a pampered cat preens and glares, outrun a gang by darting perilously through traffic, gaze into glittering shops, and inhale restaurants' tantalizing aromas. After the kitten bolts from a dog, Shane retrieves it from high in a tree and finally gets it safely back to his improvised nest. Setting the story at night, with white type on bold black, Rogers brings out its poignancy in tenderly rendered illustrations whose essential realism is enriched with dramatic composition and visual asides—e.g., the hands of God and Adam from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling and the face of one of the damned in his Last Judgment are paired as battered posters. Touching, beautifully wrought, and deeply felt. (Picture book. 5- 10)