CAN YOU CATCH JOSEPHINE?

A second picture book featuring the hero (and cat heroine) of Where's Josephine?, by a well-regarded French-Canadian. Josephine stays cheerfully in view as she leads her owner, who has illegally brought her to school, in a merry chase through the school library, halls, girls' room, etc. until, after he is cornered by the gym class and a formidable teacher, both boy and cat are escorted to the principal's office--to find that the principal's cat has sneaked into school, too. A kindhearted solution is proposed, but Josephine manages one more unexpected reversal of human arrangements. This has more universal appeal than its predecessor, which seemed at times to be a dark exploration of some of the bleaker back alleys of Montreal. Here, while the same design of full, brightly colored right-hand pages facing text embellished with black-and-white details is used, the school might be any urban elementary school; the grotesque visage of the grown-ups is typical of any child's-eye view; and the occasional distortions of perspective lend an antic rather than an eerie quality. A delightful choice for the older picture-book set.