May Time, Bunny Time! Too Many Bunnies by Tomie De Paola

"Well," said Daddy Hopkins, looking out on a fine spring morning, "it's time to plant our gardens."

"This year," said Mommy Hopkins, "Daddy and I want all of you children to help,"

"Oh, Goody!" cried the fifteen little Hopkins.

Mommy and Daddy need to go buy some carrot seeds, but first they give all the bunnies their assignments.

The five quintuplets, Willy, Wally, Wiley, Wendy, and Winny get spades and start to dig. The quads Bonny, Bunny, Billy, and Biff get rakes. The triplets Flossie, Frannie, and Fuffie are set to make the rows, the twins Skipper and Skeezer are assigned to plant seeds, and little Petey is sent for the hose to water the rows.

But if too many cooks spoil the broth, too many gardeners can make a mess of the garden.

When Mommy and Daddy Hopkins return with the seeds, the bunnies are all milling around, doing everything at once. It's a muddy muddle.

But Mommy knows how to manage a mob of bunnies, and soon has them working in their teams, in best-selling author-illustrator Tomie de Paola's Too Many Bunnies (Little Simon Books), in a lovable board book that explains planting and teamwork, illustrated appealingly in true de Paola spring-styled pastel watercolors. Great for planting time, share this one with Katy Hudson's inimitable Too Many Carrots (See my review here).