My G-R-R-R-Reat Uncle Tiger

Rummaging through the trash one night, an orange tabby named Marmaduke finds a book open to a picture of a tiger. Noting their common features, he surmises, ``We must be related,'' and thereupon sets out on this cheerily illustrated mission to find his ``uncle tiger.'' Accompanied by a jolly band of feline friends, Marmaduke sneaks into the zoo and finds an ``uncle''-but is too petrified by his uncle's roar (``Grr-grr-grrr'') to understand that he is being grr-grreeted. The cats scramble for home, their cut-paper fur comically standing on end. Marmaduke cowers in his cozy, domesticated cat bed, ``and never again did he boast about his great uncle tiger.'' As ingratiating as a cat rubbing against an admirer's legs, this picture book showcases both Riordan's concise storytelling as he sets up the prideful Marmaduke for an amusing and painless fall, and Ayliffe's (Lucy's Picture) humor-imbued, color-drenched paper-cutting. Ages 2-6. (Aug.)