Farm-Fresh Cats

Santoro's (Isaac the Ice Cream Truck) amusing cinematic illustrations animate his whimsical tale with bright images that seem especially made for a Saturday morning cartoon. Farmer Ray and his dumpling wife, Norma, live peacefully on an ""ordinary little farm"" until ""one night something happened."" When he goes out to check his cabbage field the next morning, Farmer Ray sees a field of green ""cat heads peeking out of the ground."" Santoro sidesteps a plausible explanation for the unusual plot twist: ""No one ever found out exactly what happened, but everyone agreed that it must have been something extraordinary."" Unlike Disney's Siamese cats (whom they greatly resemble in body language), these felines, once picked, are ""no more trouble than houseplants."" But they do multiply quickly (new kittens sprout from the cats' fur balls) until ""they are everywhere!"" Santoro's orange-eyed cats peek from inside morning glories and line the barn roof like Hitchcock's birds, until Norma resolves the crisis by selling the cats to ""those city people"" for just 89 cents a pound at the farm's vegetable stand. Those who enjoy this fanciful and humorous story will be pleased with the closing dialogue, which hints at a possible sequel-or perhaps further feline multiplication: "" 'I don't think we've seen the last of them,' whispers Farmer Ray. What do you think?"" Ages 4-7.