COMIC ADVENTURES OF BOOTS

Seldom is the text, all of which is in dozens of dialogue balloons, more than incidental in this set of feline hijinks from Kitamura (Me and My Cat?, 2000), and several episodes are entirely wordless. Between long sequences in which Boots, a marmalade-colored kitty, discovers magic in an artist’s pen and a tophat, there are interlopers to lure from a favorite sleeping wall (“Operation Fish Biscuit”), swimming lessons to coax from a duck (“Pleased To Meet You, Madam Quark”), a hilarious game of pantomime to wile away a dull day (“Let’s Play A Guessing Game.”), and other escapades. Kitamura’s comic-strip art looks simple at first glance, but he captures an astonishing range of expressions and reactions in his wide-eyed, confused-looking felines, using subtle changes of line or body language that are unfailingly catlike. Kitamura knows cats, as readers who know cats will agree—after they finish laughing. (Picture book. 6-8)