Peter Collington is an illuminating illustrator and writer who bathes his narratives with a highly-charged, almost metaphysical light, giving them original and profound significance. Clever Cat (Jonathan Cape pound;9.99) is an upside-down Puss-in-Boots story: the surreal fable of a cat who tires of havin to wait for his food and decides to open the tins himself. His owners, glad to be relieved of responsibility, give him a key to the house and then a credit card, but there’s a catch. Wonderfully accomplished pictures accompany an incisive text with a sharp commentary on the way we live.