A CIRCLE OF CATS

A small tale of magic and mystery is hampered by its dependence on its sequel. Lillian lives with her Aunt in the hills, a wild, gentle girl who puts out saucers of milk for stray cats and gives the gnarled old Apple Tree Man a biscuit for breakfast every morning and whose greatest desire is to see the fairies. When a snake bites her, the cats save her by turning her into a kitten; in order to change back, she must make a portentous bargain with the Father of Cats. The plot is slight enough; what makes this story sing is its infusion with a sort of folkloric mysticism that places it firmly in the tradition of the original fairy tale. De Lint’s sonorous, ingenuous language is complemented beautifully by Vess’s full-color line-and-watercolor illustrations, the slightest hint of comics-style influence giving the old-timey setting a faintly contemporary air. But as a conscious “prequel” to the pair’s earlier (and out-of-print) Seven Wild Sisters, the story has an unfinished and ultimately unsatisfying quality. (Fiction. 8-10)