MOONLIGHT: The Halloween Cat

In a gentle holiday outing, Moonlight, a black cat with a pink nose and friendly green eyes, prowls under a starlit Halloween sky. She gazes at glowing jack-o'-lanterns ("Pumpkins smile at her") and, in casual feline style, curls up on a seated scarecrow ("Straw laps welcome her"). Rylant's (Cat Heaven) quiet sentences convey Moonlight's contentment, as do the lazy rolling hillsides and shady pine-green lawns in Sweet's (Bouncing Time) paintings. Mellow Moonlight, who never hisses or puffs her fur, happily crouches in a tree as owls fly by and unhurriedly saunters through a silent graveyard: "It is her favorite night of all." Ages 2-5. (Aug.)