Thanksgiving Cats

Marzollo (the I Spy books) casts felines as farmers who harvest food and as ""kitchen cats"" who prepare it for the Thanksgiving feast in this rather insipid treatment. The narrative begins promisingly enough: ""Farmer cats grow wheat,/ potatoes, corn, and peas./ Farmer cats grow pumpkins/ and leafy apple trees."" And the playful, cartoonish art keeps pace with the light tone of the text; a quartet of kittens holds up a scarecrow sporting a pilgrim hat for ""Farmer kittens chasing noisy birds and bees!"" But there's not much to sink one's teeth into, and when ""Thanksgiving cats"" are finally introduced, they seem to reduce the holiday to a lesson in etiquette: ""Thanksgiving cats say, `Thank you.'/ Thanksgiving cats say, `Please.'"" Readers will likely say ""No, thank you"" to seconds. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)