HERE COMES THE CAT!

A laudable venture: the American Asch and Russian Vagin collaborate on a bilingual picture book with virtually the entire text given in the title. Mice dressed as humans pass the anxious message from place to place, providing the opportunity to illustrate the mice riding in a hot-air balloon and on bicycles, trains, and a ferris wheel at the beach; and making a voyage by rainbow-striped fish to a neat, maritime city where a growing crowd finally receives the dreaded beast--bringing a gift of cheese, happy to be groomed and petted by its new friends and to feast on milk. The attractive illustrations--neatly square, with sharply defined forms and shadows and jewel-like colors--include a few more words, each given in both languages: e.g., ""boom,"" ""ouch,"" ""mice at work,"" ""toy store,"" ""bank."" A pleasant way to reiterate an important message, even though the literal-minded reader may point out that wise mice are cautious about even the most harmless-seeming cats.