Cat's Kittens

Before they head out on their own, Cat's six kittens need to get some street smarts. The attentive mother warns, ""If you want to be city kittens, you have to be careful kittens, you have to be canny kittens."" On five successive nights, a different young feline strikes out on its own and bumps into routine lessons in life: watch out for cars, don't go too far out on a limb, don't pick on someone bigger. On Saturday night, the sixth, littlest kitten chooses instead to ""stay here with my mama."" Within the days-of-the-week structure that both grounds and moves the text, the story and illustrations resonate with timeless and universal themes. Williams's (The Witness; When Grandma Came) dusky, purple-hued, softly textured illustrations are at once stylish and tender. In the depictions of a city night from cat perspectives-both low and high-changing angles give everyday objects an unfamiliar cast. A vignette that gentles the rigors of growing up. Ages 4-8. (Feb.)