Solo Plus One

``Solo was a bad cat'' whose favorite mischief is knocking eggs off tables so that he can lick up the resulting mess. One day Solo chases a duck from her nest, but rather than raw egg, he gets a duckling who ``thought that Solo was its mother, and it kept following him.'' Solo solves his problem by pushing the hanger-on into the pond, where it joins its mother. Thereafter, a somewhat reformed Solo sticks to a cat-food diet--a bit leery of what might appear when the cans are opened. Though somewhat lacking in zip, this slim story may entertain little ones--especially in its gently true-to-life portrayal of a cat's activities. Martland's broad-brushed, childlike images in sunny hues enliven the proceedings, offering an endearing family of quackers and a sharply contrasting black puss. In spite of the author's sometimes intrusively judgmental tone, this debut produces a generally diverting animal story in the tradition of Marjorie Flack. Ages 3-8. (Apr.)