THREE LITTLE KITTENS

Linch (My Duck, 2000, etc.) gives this oddly-written, deceptively simple folk ditty a playful tone with illustrations featuring a trio of chunky, earth-colored felines sporting comically ingenuous expressions and brightly colored, striped or polka-dotted, paw gear. Using the longer length, she offers a chance for mother to scold and teach her lesson more than once and for that pie to arrive on the scene several times. An opportunistic mouse puts in an occasional appearance too, and borders of slotted spoons and other kitchenware add to the general atmosphere of cozy domesticity. Compared to Paul Galdone’s rendition (1986), the intensity, both of youthful remorse and parental anger, has been toned down, but the quick succession of changes rung on the theme of suffering consequences, or earning rewards, for one’s behavior still come through with unmistakable clarity. (Picture book. 2-4)