KITTEN DAY

In a series of nicely varied frames--from three to six on a page--a small girl makes friends with a kitten: following it, feeding it, playing with it. When it uses the cat box, she says, ""You're a good, clean, clever kitten. . .just like me""--and is next seen (knees and feet only, cat playing with the toilet paper) using the toilet herself. The girl reads a story (""You're much better than a book cat"") and the two are seen tucked into their separate beds--rounding out this happy portrait of a sensitive child with a new pet. Ormerod's cat is not quite so perfectly observed as her children, but that's a small cavil about a book that should charm both toddlers and older preschoolers--and their parents.