THREE MORE STORIES YOU CAN READ TO YOUR CAT

Miller and Kelley (Three Stories You Can Read to Your Cat, not reviewed, etc.) return with what has become a solidly entertaining formula for children in transition from early readers to chapter books. A second-person text addresses its protagonist, the cat of the title, as it makes its way with feline superiority through three chapters. In “Happy Birthday,” the cat’s well-meaning owner presents a series of wholly unacceptable gifts—but the rustling wrapping paper makes a big hit. The “Funny White Stuff” turns out to be much more appealing from inside the window than outside, and “Breakfast Time” itself is anticlimactic compared to the fun of waking one’s owner. The gently ironic text always preserves the cat’s-eye view—“A nap was much more interesting than a dead mouse”—and the energetic ink-and-watercolor illustrations continue this conceit by picturing the cat’s human as only a set of hands or a pair of “clumping” feet. The illustrations vary nicely in size and placement, at all times keeping the text from overwhelming the newly independent reader, and capturing their subject in all moods, from disgruntlement to playfulness to full supine glory. Cat-owning children will instantly recognize the true dynamic of the relationship, and all children should enjoy the good humor that pervades this offering, which instructs readers in the introduction: “remember to pet your cat while you read.” (Easy reader. 6-9)