DAPHNE OF MARTHA’S VINEYARD. By Cynthia Riggs. Photographs by Lynn Christoffers. Design by Janet Holladay. Cleaveland House Books. 40 pages. $20.

This delightful children’s paperback could be a stocking stuffer if it was smaller. Mystery writer Cynthia Riggs turns children’s book author to tell the tale of the disappearance and miraculous return of her pet cat, Daphne.

Adopted as a kitten from the animal shelter, Daphne, a calico with big eyes, was soon a happy resident of Cleaveland House in West Tisbury. Photographer Lynn Christoffers, who with her own cat lives in the Field House behind Cleaveland House, shows, in her charming photographs, how Daphne climbs her first tree, catches her first mouse, makes a cat friend — but then disappears.

It’s many weeks before bedraggled Daphne comes home, dragging an injured leg. But a trip to veterinarian Steve Atwood and much loving care make her a happy cat again — which she is to this day.

Ideal for preschoolers.