BOING!

Seymour and Keach (Yum!, not reviewed, 1998) join forces for another This One ‘N That One escapade, continuing the capers of two frisky kittens based on their own twins. The tired theme of jumping on the bed is at its most predictable here. When the two frisky, literal-minded twin kittens are told by Big Jim and Lady Jane not to jump on chairs, they jump on the sofa. When told not to jump on the sofa, they jump on the bed, and so forth. Soon Lady Jane is missing, and found jumping on her own bed with the “naughtiest kits in Catafornia,” in a plot device so standard it’s now become expected. Big Jim can’t beat ‘em, so he joins ‘em, and subsequently breaks the bed. The story is little more than a snapshot from a family album, and even pictures of the wide-eyed cats in bright pajamas can’t save it; readers wanting more boing for their buck will have to look elsewhere. (Picture book. 3-5)