WHERE’S THAT CAT?

The late poet’s long-time editor completed this puzzle book about Jitterbugs, a tiger-striped cat who leads a girl on a merry chase out the door and around the neighborhood. “What squeaks open and makes a breeze?” asks the text, and the watercolor panel beneath shows readers the exiting cat; the answer also appearing in text at the top of the following page: “Jitterbugs, Jitterbugs glides out the door.” Typographics make the most of action words and aid incidentally in building readers’ vocabularies and sensitivity to language. Similar puzzles ask what’s white and edges the grass or “What’s ticklish, green, and smells like spring?” with the answers—a fence, the grass—immediately following. But the big question remains—“Where’s that cat?”—for Jitterbugs runs like greased lightning, once even chasing the girl who is chasing him. All ends happily back at home, where it is time for a nap for the girl and the cat. A pleasant poetic excursion into the mildest of mysteries of which the outcome is never in doubt, but which will nonetheless entice listeners into following the clues. An excellent read-aloud. (Picture book. 3-7)