Red Cat, White Cat

If not for Mackie's loopy cartoon cats, Mandel's (Ballerina Bunny Loves to Dance) list of opposites would seem run-of-the-mill. Rhyming phrases form the only text (``Up Cat, Down Cat... Farm Cat, Town Cat''), but exuberant felines bring each concept cleverly to life. On each page, a personable cat is framed within a central black square or rectangle; some energetic cats play on the boxes' perimeters (for ``In Cat, Out Cat,'' the latter clambers entirely out of his inky cage). Mackie draws in minute detail with pen and watercolors, and gives most every cat wide round eyes, a luxuriantly curved or spiraling tail, a fringe of dainty hairs standing at attention, and an oddly human, square-toothed smile. Perky extras add pizzazz: tiny mice scurry atop some frames, a radiant sun beams from the corner of the frame surrounding ``Hot Cat'' while faint snowflakes fall in the margins around the facing ``Cold Cat.'' Eye-catching. Ages 4-7. (Oct.)