Three Stories You Can Read to Your Cat

Miller and Kelley follow up their clever Three Stories You Can Read to Your Dog with a blithe feline equivalent. Each of three stories includes animated descriptions of prowling and yowling, told in the second person as though a housecat were both main character and willing audience. ""The Rainy Day"" portrays a restless protagonist on a wet morning: ""You went to sit under the dining room table. `Maybe some food will fall,' you said to yourself. `Sometimes food does that.' "" The next entry, ""The Yummy Bug,"" details the suspenseful pursuit of a spotted beetle. And the ironic ""The Good Day"" finds the hero trying to ""be good"" by gnawing a houseplant (""`Mmmmm,' you said to yourself. `That was very, very good' "") and excavating the kitchen trash ("" `This is better than good,' you said. `This is GREAT!' ""). Miller employs snappy sentences, a keen eye for kitty foibles and a quirky wit. Kelley's uncomplicated pen-and-ink and watercolor images show an attention to familiar cat poses; a pampered and plump gray cat crouches, bathes itself, climbs curtains and sharpens its claws. Even if cats don't deign to sit through a reading, this chapter book (like its canine companion volume) provides plenty of amusement for humans. Ages 7-10. (Mar.)