THE SAD STORY OF THE LITTLE BLUEBIRD AND THE HUNGRY CAT

In the manner of Pat Hutchins' Rosie's Walk (1968), except that this jaunt is accompanied by a jogging rhyme, ""a little blue bird was hopping (then skipping, then jumping) along, singing a happy hopping song, 'I can hop. Can you?' ""--followed by a hungry cat (""You can hop. I can too."") whose hops, skips and jumps are all lunges at the bird, but who always lands flat on its face. But Preston really belies her title's promise of a ""sad story,"" for at last the bird escapes by ""flying along'--and even the grounded cat has a dish of milk to run home to. Gentle satisfaction, picked up by the stalking, repeatedly frustrated, cat's expressive mugging.