Dear Tabby

Letters, handbills, and newspaper articles tell the story of advice columnist Tabby D. Cat and her career fixing up the lives of her fellow animals. Crimi's (Where's My Mummy?) plotting skills are solid and her language is suitably hip ("Take deep, cleansing breaths, my frazzled friend"), while perpetually affronted-looking characters lounge among stylish accessories. Along the way, Tabby (who signs herself "Purrfectly yours") successfully returns a bear to her circus, polishes the social skills of a too-talkative parrot, and finds a spouse for a skunk—and for a grand finale, she finds herself an owner and a home. When a cat named Boots objects to the pampering her owner, Emily, subjects her to ("She rolls me around town like I'm some kind of doll"), Tabby leaps at the opportunity, telling Boots it's fine to move on ("Go, my freedom-loving friend") and planting herself on Emily's stoop with a note ("Dear Emily, Please take care of this cat. She is clean and kind and will listen to all your troubles"). Diverting, lighthearted entertainment. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)