BLACK CAT/WHITE CAT

A pop-out book that combines paper engineering and artwork to convey concepts that illustrations alone could not. Cats may be the ideal subjects for exploring opposites related to motion. These cats’ adventures take them high and low, near and far. Murphy (Colors, 1997, etc.) creates realistic cats climbing pop-up ladders, hopping through windows, and perching on ledges. Readers pull a tab to turn a young cat into an old cat: A kitten’s face fills out with the jowls of the elderly. The cat remains in place for “day cat, night cat”; the pull-tab replaces the background of sun with stars. It’s a great combination of feline antics and 3-D engineering. (Pop-up. 4-8)