GHOST EYE

When old Lydia goes to a nursing home, her cat Purrloom Popcorn ("a white Cornish rex with one eye of brilliant blue and one of shining gold") goes on the competition circuit, where his extraordinary looks make him a Grand Champion. At Lydia's death, Popcorn is returned to her house, now occupied by Lydia's grandniece Melinda and her parents—and, as Popcorn can observe through his special blue eye, the ghosts of Lydia plus the rest of her cats, who have fond remembrances of Popcorn as a kitten. Bauer develops her intriguing premise with ingenuity and brisk humor. Feisty Popcorn is a true cat, with vague memories, self- centered hauteur, and a baleful response to the unfamiliar; but it's his vulnerability—his apprehensions when he first sees a ghost; his fleeting recollections of being loved as well as admired—that wins him sympathy. Will he make peace with Melinda, or join his old friends? Adroitly, Bauer keeps that a question until the very end. Hyman contributes a wealth of drawings; cats are one of her fortes, and these are a pleasure. (Fiction. 7-11)