EMR(abbits): Rescue Bunnies by Doreen Cronin

NEWBIE IS A RESCUE BUNNY TRAINEE.

HER LAST TEST WILL BE THE TOUGHEST OF ALL.... THE FIELD TEST.

UNTIL THEN HER JOB IS TO "ALPHABETIZE " THE SPICE RACK.

Appropriately nicknamed "Newbie," the young would-be rescue bunny waits for her final trial. She is well-trained, but even a zealous young emergency rescue rabbit must have her secret self-doubts. Will she blow her big moment? Will she crack in the clutch? Will she chicken out at her first chance to show her stuff?

At last the long-awaited moment comes:

LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON, THE SECOND SHIFT PICKED UP AN URGENT DISTRESS SIGNAL.

A GIRAFFE IN TROUBLE!

And Newbie's first test is a toughie. A baby giraffe is stuck in a mudhole and a gang of hungry hyenas are on the way to the scene as well. On the way to the site Newbie receives her final bit of rescue protocol: instructions for the top-secret CODE RED! That is, if the rescue seems doomed to fail, the rescue bunnies have to make a hard call--to pull out to save themselves and leave the victim to his or her fate!

But this little giraffe is helpless in her mudhole, and Newbie can't be convinced that their best choice is to bail on the mission! However, things are looking grim: the hyenas are a group of well-disciplined and dangerous predators, and the rescue team--well, after all, they are a bunch of bunnies!

Will Newbie run away to fight another day, or will she find a way to rescue the potential victim of an impending unfortunate outcome?

Doreen Cronin's Rescue Bunnies (Balzer & Bray, 2010) takes its time building to an exciting climax as Cronin tries out a different approach in her latest picture book. Newbie is a bit of a conflicted would-be hero, but as expected she comes through in the clutch with an inventive solution to this life-or-death emergency situation.

Cronin, author of so many giggle-worthy best-sellers, including Diary of a Worm, Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type (Caldecott Honor Book) and its sequels, Duck for President (New York Times Best Illustrated Books (Awards)) and such wiggle-worthy hits as Bounce and Wiggle (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards)), has provided a picture book with a bit of suspense just right for that Kindergarten community-helper unit's visit to the local firehouse or EMR station.