ON BOOKSHELVES

ON BOOKSHELVES
What's so entertaining about painted cats?
"Why Paint Cats: The Ethic of Feline Aesthetics" by Burton Silver and Heather Busch (Ten Speed Press, $16.95.)
BALTIMORE -- At first blush, the very idea of painting a live cat seems inhumane, unnatural, messy and quite possibly dangerous. Yet within the book "Why Paint Cats: The Ethic of Feline Aesthetics" are extraordinarily entertaining photographs of cats whose fur has been colored with vegetable-based hair dyes by 23 artists -- and every one of the animals appears content, or at least placid. Heather Busch is the photographer; Burton Silver, a New Zealander whose prior work has raised apparent spoofs to a high art form. Each artist's work gets a genre designation, conceived by Silver, who wrote the delicious commentary -- "Kinetic Observationalism," "Eco-Integrationism," "Filamentalism" and -- my personal favorite -- "Retromingent Expressionism." The book asserts that "cat painting has been practiced by Eastern cultures for centuries" and that the West is ready for it. Ready or not, here it comes.
Yesterday's Thanksgiving for the kids of today
"Don't Know Much About the Pilgrims" by Kenneth C. Davis (HarperCollins, $15.99)
Young readers will find plenty of interesting facts to chew on in this offering by Kenneth C. Davis. Davis, a contributing editor to USA Weekend, delivers historical tidbits in a style that, according to People magazine, is like "returning to the classroom of the best teacher you ever had."
The book is written in a question-and-answer format and is illustrated with drawings by S.D. Schindler. What emerges is a sympathetic but revealing portrait of the Puritans who sailed to America on the Mayflower.
Davis gently corrects misconceptions youngsters may have about these settlers.
Despite the Thanksgiving artwork that has come to represent pilgrims in the minds of most Americans, the real pilgrims did not wear silver buckles on their hats and shoes, nor did they always wear black and white clothing.
"The Pilgrims actually wore very colorful clothes," writes Davis.
"We're not talking crazy polka dots and plaids, but the Pilgrims' everyday clothes were red-brown, blue, green and purple." The black clothes and stiff white collars were worn only on Sundays.
The first Thanksgiving was held in the middle of October and lasted three days, writes Davis. Instead of watching football on TV, the men and boys held running and jumping contests, played games and did some target shooting.
Combined dispatches