Pumpkin Plenty! It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse! by Laura Numberoff

SEVEN PUMPKINS!

It's a tall order for a small mouse to decorate seven pumpkins, but this mousekin has plenty of ideas for each one.

On one big pumpkin he paints the iconic happy face.

One gets a very sad face.

Then he paints one with a goofy face, followed by one exclaiming in surprise! Next...

Mouse is on a roll--until he notices something strange!

ONE IS MISSING!

Mouse looks around! What's that?!? That's a mean and frightening Jack O'Lantern. Mouse never painted anything that scary! Where did that one come from?

Could Dog be the culprit? His giggle is suspicious.

Turning pumpkins into Jack o' Lanterns is half the fun of Halloween, in It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse! (If You Give...) (Balzer and Bray), and Mouse finally finishes off his duties with the friendliest Jack in the pumpkin patch in author Laura Numeroff's and artist Felicia Bond's Halloween story for fans of the boy and mouse featured in their best-selling series begun with If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. This one may help tots about to experience their first pumpkin-decorating fun get some ideas about which pumpkin face they want to choose.

For more pumpkin-carving tot-time fun, share this one with Leslie Petrocelli's adorable Boo! (Leslie Patricelli board books) (see review here).

"Sleep No More!" Good Night, Owl by Greg Pizzoli

OWL WAS SETTLED INTO BED WHEN HE HEARD A NOISE.

SQUEEK!

It's not loud. It's not unpleasant, actually. It's not even scary. But what IS it?

Somebody at the door? Exasperated, Owl puts on his robe and shuffles to the door.

Nobody.

Back in bed, he wills himself to drop off.

"GOOD NIGHT, OWL." HE SAYS TO HIMSELF.

SQUEEK!

Now the sound seems to be coming from below him. Relentlessly, Owl peers under his bed. Nothing. It must be coming from under the floor. Systematically, Owl begins to pry up the floorboards, one at a time. Still nothing.

By now Owl is more than perturbed. He lies down, but by now his ears are tuned to hear nothing but that sound.

SQUEEK!

It must be coming from the cupboard. Owl takes everything out. Nothing. His comfy bedroom is in chaos. But as soon as his head hits the pillow, he hears that sound again.

SQUEEK!!

It's coming from the roof! With a wild look in his eyes, Owl grabs a sledge hammer and begins to demolish his roof Now surely he has vanquished whatever is making that sound at last!

Or has he? Owl's cozy cottage is reduced to shambles and he is one wide-awake and no wiser owl, in Greg Pizzoli's newest anti-bedtime story, Good Night Owl (Hyperion Books, 2016). With his usual puckish humor, Pizzoli's charming illustrations reveal the cause of his crazed insomniac activity--a small brown mouse, sometimes seen peeping from behind the head board or under the bed, sometimes from a facing page, always out of sight for Owl. It's a mouse who seems to want no more than a cozy place to snooze, as is revealed in the final pages as he and Owl finally say good night from their bed under the stars.

We've all had the experience of settling down in bed, only to hear that one strange noise that we just can't quite ignore. Being naturally nocturnal, owls are often chosen for the role of "night owl" in picture books, and this Owl is no exception. In fact, in his obsessive search for the source of the mysterious sound, Owl's eyes take on a comic, slightly manic look.

Kids will get a good giggle out of the mouse's stealthy appearances all over Owl's bedroom and Owl's silly measures to find him, and they will be soothed, despite themselves, by that final "Good night, Owl."

Pizzoli's soft and flat pastel illustrations, set against muted nocturnal gray-green and gray-blue backgrounds, belie the feverish activities of poor Owl while adding a comforting sleepytime mood to this story, a different take on bedtime. Greg Pizzoli is the master of wry, ironic humor for the preschool set, as evidenced in his earlier award-winning smash, The Watermelon Seed, which answers that burning childhood question, what would happen if I swallowed a watermelon seed and it grew inside me, or that other compelling question, what would happen if I told my parents to leave me alone and they actually did, as in Pizzoli's Templeton Gets His Wish (read reviews here).

Pair this one for storytime or bedtime with that other sleep-resisting owl in Jonathan Allen's I'm Not Sleepy! (Baby Owl).

Even a Mouse.... Such a Small Mouse by Alice Schertle

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MEADOW, UNDER A CLUMP OF DANDELIONS,
WAY DOWN DEEP IN THE HOLE
LIVES A MOUSE.
SUCH A LITTLE MOUSE
WITH HIS SMART GRAY COAT,
WITH HIS EARS PINK AS PETALS,
WITH THREE TWITCHETY WHISKERS ON EACH SIDE OF HIS NOSE.

And such a providential mouse he is, too. Every morning of spring he pokes his nose out and scurries off to gather seeds and fresh greens--unfurling ferns and clover blossoms, dodging but greeting the busy bees.

Summer finds him selecting fresh watercress and chatting with a toad sheltering from the sun under a flower's broad leaves. He gathers small twigs for the beavers' new dam, and at sunset home he goes home with his cress and more seeds to stock his storeroom down deep underground.

Autumn comes. The little mouse scoots out and about beneath the falling leaves.

"RUSTLE, RUSTLE, RUSTLE" GO THE LEAVES.

HE WATCHES THE GEESE OVERHEAD.
"HONK! HONK! HONK!" THEY CRY.
"WINTER IS COMING!"

And the thrifty little mouse hauls home dozens of fat acorns to tuck away in his pantry. His cozy hole awaits, with a downy bed for sleeping, well-stocked larders, and a well-appointed kitchen, all below the frost line.

A thoughtful provider, this is a foresightful little mouse who can feast in fine form and sleep snugly through stormy, snowy nights.

The celebrated Alice Schertle's latest, Such a Little Mouse, (Scholastic Press, 2015) is a story which takes time to smell the roses, so to speak, to savor the seasons and share their bounty with the neighbors out in the wide world of the meadow.

Artist Stephanie Yue's gentle, old-fashioned pencil and watercolor illustrations catch the sweetness of each season, even winter, as Mouse simmers his dried watercress-and-seed soup, reading and resting up for the next growing season. Children will warm to author Schertle's gently repetitive narration and Yue's soft, detailed pictures, from the sun-shy toad in his hideout to Mouse's cozy kitchen with alphabet-block counters and a tiny tea-light candle's yellow illumination. Among the many books about the joys of the seasons, this one is definitely a standout.

Biblio-Buddies: A Library Book for Bear by Bonny Becker

When Bear opened the door, there was Mouse, small, gray, and bright-eyed.

"We are off!" exclaimed Mouse, with a happy wag of his whiskers.

Bear frowned. He had agreed to go with Mouse to the library, but now he was quite sure it was a dreadful mistake.

"Completely unnecessary," Bear announced. "I have all the books I need right here."

Bear points a definitive paw at his mantle, where there are indeed seven books--four about kings and queens, two about honeybees, and one about pickles.

But a promise is a promise, so Bear straps on his red roller skates, grabs a basket for Mouse to ride in, and rolls off. Bear is intimidated by the look of the large, imposing library, but Mouse pulls him inside cheerily. Bear feels overwhelmed by so many books, so he heads for a quiet nook between two well-stocked stacks.

"Hmmmph! Terribly extravagant!" Bear grumbles.

Bear is not one for wretched excess, and he continues grumping at Mouse, who gamely tries to please him, retrieving first a book on wooden canoes and then a book about rockets.

"Ridiculous!"

Bear's voice was getting louder.

"Quiet voices in the library," counsels Mouse politely.

Bear informs Mouse that he is most capable of finding his own book, one about pickles. After all, he has one about pickles.

"I can assure you that pickles are quite interesting!"

A loud SHUSH is heard from the other side of the stack. Bear peers around the shelf and sees a librarian reading a story to a circle of young listeners. A mother raccoon glares at him to be quiet.

Bear is affronted and announces that he is ready to leave, when he hears a line from the story.

"So the very brave bear began to inch his way toward the treasure chest...

And inside the chest there was a mound of pickle slices...made of diamonds and gold...

Bear is hooked.

And as he rides home in Bear's basket, on top of a pile of indubitably interesting pickle books, Mouse's eyes are very bright.

Bonny Becker's brand-new (and already best-selling) latest in her series, A Library Book for Bear (Bear and Mouse) (Candlewick Press, 2014), continues her stories of the curmudgeonly, change-resistant Bear, and his friend, the small, gray Mouse who knows just what Bear wants before he knows he wants it. With gentle, wry understatement in the narrative and the soft watercolor illustrations of Kady MacDonald Denton, this one is another not-to-be-missed entry in this joyfully insightful series on the intricacies of friendship.

Other delightful books about this odd couple of friends are A Visitor for Bear (Bear and Mouse), A Bedtime for Bear (Bear and Mouse), A Birthday for Bear: Candlewick Sparks and The Sniffles for Bear (Bear and Mouse), each one better than the other.

Heart-y! Never Too Little To Love by Jeanne Willis

LITTLE TOO-TINY LOVES SOMEBODY.

BUT SHE'S WAY UP THERE!

AND THAT'S A LONG, LONG WAY IF YOU REALLY WANT A KISS.

Talk about your oddball romantic mismatches.  This mouse is enamored of...

a GIRAFFE.

But where there's a will, there's a way, or at least Little Too-Tiny hopes so.  If only he can find something to stand on that will make him taller!

He looks around hopefully and tries standing on tippy-toes on a thimble. Not even close!

Little Too-Tiny tries all kinds of objects in turn, building a sort of  tipsy tower--a teacup, a cabbage, a candle, a cupcake.  He reaches as high as he can, but his tipsy tower tilts, and down he goes with a CRASH!

Topsy Too-Tall loves Little Too-Tiny, too, but she can see that his efforts are not uplifting.

Sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do,  and in this mismatched histoire d'amour, Topsy sees that she's going to have to meet him more than halfway, in Jeanne Willis' little tiny toy-and-movable love story, Never Too Little to Love (Candlewick, 2013) Inventively illustrated by Jan Fearnley, it's inventive page design to the rescue. Each successive page becomes taller than the one before in stair-step fashion, until Little Too-Tiny's tumble. But love finds a way, at least on the last page  in this charming little board book, with a fold-down flap for Topsy Too-Tall's long neck, making the kiss possible at last. Kids will love the suspense of Little Too-Tiny's impromptu stairway to the stars and giggle at the surprise wobble and topple that follows. A fine Valentine's surprise for anyone, with its charming little story of  a star-crossed pair.

Danger at the Door?: Who Goes There? by Karma Wilson

"MY NEST IS WARM," SQUEAKED LEWIS. "MY NEST IS COZY, BUT SOMETHING IS MISSING."

WHAT COULD IT BE?

His nest is cozy. Wooden chairs with plump blue cushions are pulled up to his little table, and a folksy green china cabinet shows off his white dishes with blue flowers. There are acorns and a few pumpkins and squash on hand for the winter, and a sturdy cask lid forms a stout wooden door to keep him safe inside his hollow-tree home. What's missing?

Well, it certainly isn't the slightly sinister noise that Lewis suddenly hears outside.

SCRITCH SCRATCH TAP TAP TAP!

Lewis is a doughty and manly mouse, but the noise was sudden and it was scary. Lewis shivers, but he puts on a brave front and shouts right back:

"WHO GOES THERE?

It's quiet for a moment, and then he hears it again, even louder and closer. Could it be a hunting owl? A hungry marauding bear? Some sneaky, creepy cat?

Lewis screws up his courage, He lights his lantern, opens his door, and peers into the darkness. Whatever it is doesn't show itself. Growing angry, he bellows as loudly as he can, "WHO GOES THERE?"

Then he hears a small voice, a voice small enough to be another mouse.

"YOU'RE NOT SO SCARY!"

Lewis meets his next-door neighbor, named Joy, and his nest suddenly seems complete in Karma Wilson's newest, Who Goes There? (Margaret K. Elderry Books, 2013). Wilson, best-selling author of the Bear Snores On books, knows how to build the tension with each suspicious scritch-scratch in this comforting re-working of the "danger at the door" premise, and artist Anna Currey's charming but nervous little Lewis can't quite settle down for a long winter's nap until his mystery is solved. Storyline and illustration style blend seamlessly in this story of friendship found when least expected. As School Library Journal sums it up succinctly, "While steady tension pulls the story forward, it’s really more of a showcase for Currey’s handsome watercolor-and-ink drawings, which portray both actual nature and anthropomorphized animal life in the classic British style."

A Long Winter's Nap: Good Night, Mouse! by Jed Henry

HOW ARE WE GOING TO HELP MOUSE SLEEP?

"I KNOW HOW TO WEAR HIM OUT!" BOASTS RABBIT.

Rabbit hops, hops, hops, but Mouse never stops long enough to get sleepy.

The other animals are all tired, but Rabbit is still wired. He just knows he can outlast a little mouse.

He decides that a long, hot bath will lull Mouse off to Dreamland. That done, he and the other animals pile together to stay warm and the newly laundered Mouse stretches out on the top of the pile. All the rest drift off to dreamland, but Mouse is still wide awake.

"ALL THIS FLUFF IS GETTING STUFFY!" HE FUSSES.

Mouse isn't sleepy, but he does want a midnight snack!

There is no one foraging in the dark--except Mouse's cousins, the bats. Let's hope that they have some wacky snacks to share, in Jed Henry's charmingly illustrated Good Night, Mouse! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013). If his restful rhymes don't lull the little listeners, Henry's soothing palette of muted greens, blues, and browns and his appealing snoozing critters--a frog, mole, badger, and of course, a resourceful rabbit--don't move the somnolence-avoiding Mouse toward bedtime, a little help from a nighttime chorus of crickets, led by a baton-wielding bat, should do the job. As School Library Journal observes, "Henry's gentle, mixed-media illustrations bring out the humor of the situation when good intentions meet mismatched expectations."

Pair Good Night, Mouse! with its jolly companion book, Jed Henry's recent  Cheer Up, Mouse!

Nighty-Night: A Bedtime for Bear by Bonnie Becker

Everything had to be just so for Bear's bedtime.

The glass of water had to sit on the exact right spot on his nightstand.

His favorite pillow must be nicely fluffed.

The nightcap needed to be snug.

Most of all it had to be quiet--very, VERY quiet.

Bear is clearly set for a quiet evening. Slippers on feet, feet on footstool, an afghan across his legs, and a book balanced on his ample belly, Bear is seated in his easy chair before his cheery fire, ready for a cozy read.

TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP.

Bear glares in the direction of the offending door knocker. A visitor? Visitors usually mean mess and noise! Who could it be?

Well, who else on his doorstep but a mouse, small and gray and bright-eyed--with his little red valise, obviously anticipating a sleepover.

Bother! Was it tonight he invited Mouse to sleep over? But then Mouse did remember his birthday, so perhaps he is right. Tonight is the night.

Bear settles down with Mouse to a companionable game of checkers and after sharing mugs of warm cocoa, it’s time for the sleep-over friends to turn in. Bear prepares Mouse a comfy bed, pulling out the top drawer of his bedside table and providing a pillow and a blue blanket. Then he lays down the ground rules:

“REMEMBER, I MUST HAVE ABSOLUTE QUIET,” reminded Bear.

But Mouse can’t quite meet Bear’s standards.

“Bristle, Bristle, Bristle,” goes mouse’s little toothbrush. “Hmmm, hum-pa, pummmm,” he hums as he pulls on his nightshirt. “ ”Good night,” he calls, just as Bear has decided it’s safe to close his eyes..

“MY EARS ARE VERY SENSITIVE!” cried Bear.

“Really. How interesting!” said Mouse..... Mouse slipped from his bed, went into the closet, and said in the tiniest possible voice into the farthest, darkest teeniest possible corner of the closet...

“Surely you can’t . . .

“WILL THIS TORMENT NEVER CEASE!" roared Bear. “SILENCE”

“Sorry, Bear. Good night.” whispered Mouse.

At last it’s quiet enough for Bear to sleep. But he can’t. There are strange noises in his bedroom, rustly, low moany noises. “I know it’s YOU, Mouse,” he says softly, but Mouse is deep in dreamland. There's that sound again. At last Bear can’t bear his fears alone.

“WAKE UP, MOUSE!”

As always, Mouse knows just what to do to calm Bear's anxiety. Pretending to be frightened himself, he peers under the bed and under the curtains, and at last asks Bear to tell him a soothng bedtime story that finally sends both of them off to dreamland.

Ably assisted by Kady MacDonald Denton's cozy watercolor and gouache illustrations, Bonny Becker’s latest Bear and Mouse story, A Bedtime for Bear (Bear and Mouse) (Candlewick, 2010, with its quiet, wry humor and subtle interplay between this odd couple of two very different friends, is a gentle joy.

Bear and Mouse, best friends forever!

Coldfast: MouseGuard Winter 1152 by David Petersen

The icy season has settled over the mouse territories. The Mouse Guard are short of food and medicine. The small band of adventurers has been forced to split up, leading them to terrible choices.

The elder mouse Calanawe tells his young companion Leiam, "You should always aim to be your own mouse."

Scarcely recovered from Midnight's Rebellion, the Mouse Guard find that the winter of 1152 falls hard upon the Mouse Kingdom. Their leader Gwendolyn is forced to send her elite Guards--Saxon, Kenzie, Lieam, and Sadie--forth from Lockhaven to the other Mouse Territories to beg them to send food and medical Elixir back to her stronghold.

And the Mouse band struggles bravely onward, reaching their Mouse Outposts and obtaining sustenance and two bottles of Elixir to take back to Gwendolyn and the gravely ill Rand. But the strength of the winter storms force the group to tunnel under the snow, where they fall into Darkheather, the underground redoubt of their former enemies in the Weasel Wars, and where they are menaced by the hungry and vicious bats below.

Celandawe and Lieam are chosen to press on to their home base with the vital supplies, but they soon find themselves face to face with a terrible predator, the Owl who flies by night and who has a vendetta against all mice since Kenzie's powerful sling scored a direct hit which robbed him of the sight of one of his eyes.

Lieam is young, brash but brave, and with his black axe in hand is foolish enough to take on the Owl alone. Celandawe, the wise old warrior, has counseled him to be his own mouse, but the elder's ultimate courage, sacrifice, and loyalty to all mice also teach him that the greatest deed is to put the needs of all before our own, to "serve the greater good."

John Peterson's new graphic novel, Mouse Guard Volume 2: Winter 1152 (Mouse Guard Graphic Novels) (Archaia, 2009) is a beautifully illustrated sequel to his earlier Mouse Guard Volume 1: Fall 1152 (Mouse Guard Graphic Novels) (v. 1). Medieval warfare adventure combined with the stuff of middle earthian fantasy, Petersen's comic-style stories are a bit short on dialogue and storytelling detail, but his gorgeous cinematographic illustrations, here tempered to an icy palette by the snowy winter setting, leave other, cruder mangas and graphic novels in the dust stirred up by his fierce mouse warrior heroes. Sequel to follow.

NO BIRTHDAYS! A Birthday for Bear by Bonnie Becker

Whish. Whish. Whish. Bear swept the floor. He was very, very busy today.

Bear was always very busy on his birthday.

He opened the door to shake out his broom and there was Mouse--small and gray and bright-eyed.

"Happy birthday, Bear!" cried Mouse.

"It's not my birthday," lied Bear.

"But it says so right here!" said Mouse, waving a party invitation.

"This is your handwriting!" protested Bear. "YOU wrote it!":

Mouse hung his head. "Shameful trickery," he confessed. "Terribly sorry. But perhaps we could have just a little party?"

"I DO NOT LIKE PARTIES. I DO NOT LIKE BIRTHDAYS. AND I ESPECIALLY DO NOT LIKE BIRTHDAY PARTIES FOR ME AT MY HOUSE," Bear announced, and he swept Mouse out the door.

Who doesn't like birthdays? Well, apparently that curmudgeonly, persnickety bachelor bear beguiled into friendship by the ever-cheery Mouse in Bonnie Becker's multiple prize-winning A Visitor for Bear.

This time Mouse is back, still small, gray, bright-eyed...and determined to interrupt the drudgeful Bear with some diversion, this time his own birthday! Mouse subsequently appears at the back door, disguised as a deliveryman bearing three birthday balloons, only to be turned away. ("But surely you would like just one balloon? It bats about nicely.") He appears at Bear's window as a minuscule postman bearing a birthday card, only to have the window slammed shut by the unwilling birthday bear. Undaunted, Mouse drops down the chimney upon the hearth, costumed as a tiny Santa Claus bearing a large gift box.

"Ho, Ho, Ho!" cried the little Santa Claus. "A Christmas gift for Bear!"

Christmas already? thought Bear. "Wait a minute! It's not Christmas! It's my birthday."

"You said it wasn't your birthday!" The little Santa looked very pleased with himself.

But Bear again roars out his disapproval of all things birthday, and Mouse sadly departs the now squeaky clean premises, dragging his rejected gift by its bow. It seems there will be no birthday for Bear.

But of course, Bear has second thoughts. No one has ever given him a birthday present. And then there is a Ding-Dong at the front door. Sure it is Mouse in another guise, Bear throws the door open abruptly, only to find a pink box on his doorstep.

"You don't fool me, Mouse! I know you're in there," Bear cried, springing open the lid of the box.

But inside was just a cake. A big cake, with chocolate sprinkles and the words Happy Birthday, Bear in chocolate icing.

"I do not like birthday cake, either!" Bear announced loudly so that Mouse would hear.

But Bear cannot resist taking the cake inside and steathily scooping up a big pawful of fluffy chocolate frosting.

Out of the cake popped Mouse! Small and gray and bright-eyed.

"A-haaa!" cried Mouse. "You do like birthday cake!"

As before, the sociable Mouse prevails, and a happy birthday celebration ensues, with a grateful roller-skating Bear and bright-eyed and satisfied friend finishing every crumb of Mouse's homemade chocolate cake.

Like its predecessor, author Bonny Becker and artist Kady McDonald Denton have another read-aloud winner in their just published A Birthday for Bear (Candlewick, 2009). Listening and early reading kids will eat this one up as happily as Bear and Mouse finish off their cake and will definitely be asking for more Bear and Mouse books.

Delish storytelling--at its best!

"Meet the Author!": Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk

Lucky Sam is a library mouse, with a home in a hole in the wall behind the Children's Reference section of the library. Naturally, Sam is quite well read:

Every night the library belonged to Sam.

And every night Sam read and he read and he read--picture books and chapter books! He read biographies and poetry, cookbooks and sports books, fairy tales and ghost stories and monsters by the dozen.

Eventually, Sam begins to get the urge to write his own book. "Write what you know," he reads in books about authors, so Sam's first book is titled Squeek! A Mouse's Life, illustrated with self portraits for which Sam posed in front of his little mirror.

Under cover of darkness, Sam sneaks the his mouse-sized autobiography into the Biography section, along with The Big Fall by Egmont Shellton and Super Hippo by Hippy Ottamus), where the next afternoon a surprised little girl comes across it and shows it to Ms. Forrester, the librarian. Both of them are intrigued and impressed with the little tome. Inspired by his success, Sam soon follows up his first book with The Lonely Cheese and The Mystery of Mouse Mansion.

As each little book is located by a different boy or girl, the story of the mysterious self-publishing author spreads through the library. "Who is this Sam?" everyone asks. Then Mrs. Forrester gets an idea. She posts a note for Sam on the bulletin board, inviting him to the library's "Meet The Author" celebration so that all his fans can ask him questions about how he writes his books.

Sam is flattered but nervous. A room full of excited kids seems no place for a shy mouse, but he really wants to share his joy in writing with his fans. Sam comes up with an idea and pulls an all-nighter preparing for the next day's event:

All night long he wrote and drew and snipped and folded and stapled little rectangles of paper into mouse-sized books.

The next morning the librarian and children follow Sam's signs into the conference room where they find an intriguing sight. On the table there is an empty tissue box with a small banner which says "MEET THE AUTHOR." with an arrow pointing downward toward the opening in the box. A little girl follows the directions:

"Oh," she said in surprise, for at the bottom of the box lay Sam's little mirror and the little girl saw her own face smiling up at her. "Me?" she said. "An author?"

Next to the mirror was a stack of tiny blank books and a pile of pencils that Sam had sharpened with his little teeth.

As a happy Sam watches from his hiding place, the children soon sit down and begin to write and illustrate their own little books, finding out, as did Sam, that writing can be a lot of fun.

Library Mouse is an engaging way to introduce classroom units on libraries, authors, or books in general. Kirk's illustrations of Sam's mouse-sized home and his clever pictures of Sam shelving his own creations in correct shelf order will appeal to kids and librarians alike, and this book should become a staple for annual use during American Library Week or Children's Book Week.

Pair this one with Michelle Knudsen's Library Lion (reviewed here September 2, 2007), Carla Morris' The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians, or James Daugherty's Caldecott classic, Andy and the Lion (Picture Puffins).

Bunny Avatar: Big, Bad Bunny by Franny Billingsley

Over in the Mouse House Mama Mouse is putting her three little ones down for a nice nap. There are kisses for little Tippy and for little Flurry, but when she comes to the wee bed of Baby Boo Boo--she's GONE!

Outside in the wilds there is cause for alarm. Somewhere OUT THERE is BIG, BAD BUNNY, a creature with long claws (SCRITCH!) and pointy yellow teeth (CHOMP) who stomps through the bushes and ka-splashes and crashes through the mucky swamp, SQUOOZLE!

Oh, no. Mama Mouse rushes out fearlessly, tearing through the bushes and swamp. The way is hard, but Mama Mouse can go anywhere for Baby Boo Boo. "Baby, where are you, Baby?" she calls.

Still BIG BAD BUNNY growls and stomps and roars his way onward, curiously costumed in a yellow onesie with pink polka dots and fuzzy slippers. Wait! Are his gigantic long ears tied to his head with a cute little bow? Could it be.....?

Suddenly, BIG BAD BUNNY ceases his fearful roar.

BIG BAD BUNNY has come to a steep, slippery hill.

Does that stop BIG BAD BUNNY?

YES! BIG BAD BUNNY is lost! Eeek, Eeek, Eeek!

Mama Mouse is right there in a moment. "My BABY BOO BOO! At last I've found you!" she coos.

Her fake ears drooping, BIG BAD BUNNY wipes her eyes and says

"I'm not Baby Boo Boo! I'm not a BABY! I'm BIG BAD BUNNY."

"Oh," says Mama Mouse. "Nice to meet you. Do you want to come home?"

BIG BAD BUNNY (nee Baby Boo Boo) and Mama Mouse crash and stomp and ka-splash and squoozle back home, where BIG BAD BUNNY tiptoes back inside for a belated nap, and Mama tucks her in with an "I love you, Big Bad Bunny, and I always will."

Big Bad Bunny, wittily illustrated by noted artist G. Brian Keras, has a humorous surprise for the reader as the identity of BIG BAD BUNNY is slowly revealed to the observer. Billingsley's text imaginatively reworks the old story of the prodigal runaway with whimsy and affectionate empathy for the little mouse who wants to create a bolder persona for herself.