DOG IN, CAT OUT

The title's four words, reordered on each spread, comprise the entire vocabulary of this imaginative portrayal of a busy family's day as punctuated by the comings and goings of their pets. Morning finds the dog trotting out the door while puss and toddler rejoice at the possibilities of an open fridge; at breakfast, the dog is hopefully under the table while kitty peers in the window; both are outside at laundry time; with muddy paws, the dog joyfully interrupts a cozy nap shared by mother, child, and cat; and so on until puss sneaks back in through the window after everyone's asleep. Meanwhile, a clock shows the passage of time, with a dog and cat, appropriately deployed, instead of a cuckoo. James uses spare, wonderfully expressive and energetic pen lines to define her warmly humorous watercolors, creating an entire household with plenty of things to discover and with causes and effects to deduce in successive ``readings.'' Charming. (Picture book. 1-6)