THE CAT WHO LIKED POTATO SOUP

Farish (Talking in Animal) and Root (Nobody's Dog) prove a dynamic team in this endearing tale of "an old man, an ol' Texas boy,/ country-raised, don't you know" living alone with a cat "who he liked,/ but not so's you'd notice." Root imbues their cozy country house with personality: bare bulbs hang from the ceiling casting light on simple 1950s furniture, a garden grows in an outdoor bathtub, a toilet by the mailbox collects "junk mail." The single-page and full-spread watercolor and gouache paintings framed in white borders also portray the unspoken bond between man and cat. Together they eat potato soup, listen to the "terrible ruckus" of blackbirds and often fish together. But one morning, their rhythm is altered: the cat sleeps in and readers can feel the man's pregnant pause at the door as he grudgingly leaves the cat behind; shadows stretch across the rug as the warm orange and golden tones of the previous spreads fade to somber purple. In the following full-spread scene, he fishes alone in his boat, lost in a bleak, gray fog of long silver and tarnished copper brushstrokes, and returns to find her gone. The return of the golden light to the artist's palette signals the cat's return before he sees her, flailing her tail on the porch with a huge fish under her paw. The final scene of man and cat asleep on the bed in the glow of moonlight evokes the priceless value of mutual affection. Ages 6-up. (May)