Never Really Gone! The Power of Henry's Imagination by Skye Byrne

Henry's favorite toy was a rabbit called Raspberry. Raspberry was white with floppy ears and a red nose that looked just like a raspberry. Henry and Raspberry had been together a very very long time. Grandpa had given Raspberry to Henry the day he was born.

Of course, Henry loves his white rabbit and takes him everywhere he goes, especially when he goes to sleep.

But one day, when Henry wants to go out to dig carrots, he cannot find Raspberry.

Panic! Henry looks in the places where he's found a lost Raspberry before.

Henry looked in all the usual places--like underneath Grandpa, on top of the lamp, and inside pillowcases.

But Raspberry's not in any of them! Mom and Dad are summoned to get in on the search.  Parents know the dire consequences of a lost lovey, and they turned the house upside down. Under the sofa and beds, they find all sorts of lost things they'd been looking  for and all sorts of things they never knew were lost-- a chess piece, some keys, plenty of crumbs--but no white rabbit.

At last Grandpa has a suggestion:

"There's only one thing left to do.... You must imagine you have Raspberry back."

Imagine I have Raspberry back?" Henry wiped a tear away.

It seems hard, but Henry tries, and since he's done so many things with Raspberry, it's not so hard as he thought. Soon he and imaginary Raspberry  go exploring together, pretend to be pirates, hide from a storm in an imaginary snow cave and heat a can of beans over a campfire. After dinner, Henry and his imaginary rabbit lift off as astronauts flying by the stars. They complete their adventures as two dragon catchers searching for a fabled Purple Dragon.

Henry had so much fun imagining that he completely forgot Raspberry was lost. He even fell asleep as fast as if Raspberry were in his arms.

Is an imaginary rabbit as good as a real one? We'll never really know, because in Skye Byrne's
The Power of Henry's Imagination (The Secret) (Aladdin Books, 2015), there is a second happy ending when we see Grandpa steal into Henry's bedroom and place the now-found Raspberry beside the sleeping boy. Nic George's inventive illustrations play with the real and the imagined, portraying Henry's pretend adventures with Raspberry in thin, slightly disconnected black-line drawings, adding reality--in the form of leaves on the tree Henry climbs and the assorted detritus Dad digs out from under the sofa in the form of of collaged photos. The familiar tale of the lost toy takes finds a novel re-telling in this story about the power of what the poet Wordsworth famously called "that inward eye.""Choice words and creative visuals combine to celebrate and inspire the mind's eye," says Kirkus in their starred review.

Coping with Change! The Thing about Spring by Daniel Kirk

"THE WORLD LOOKS A LITTLE DIFFERENT TODAY," MOUSE SAID ONE BRIGHT MORNING.

Ah! The first signs of spring!

Everybody loves them, right?

Apparently not in this forest. Mouse and Bird are rhapsodizing about budding trees and warmth in the air, but Rabbit is not at all pleased. With a sour expression, he is going about the meadow, scooping up the vestiges of melting snowdrifts into his pail. Mouse inquires about Rabbit's curious behavior.

"SAVING SNOW WHILE I CAN!" SAID RABBIT. "WE WON'T SEE ANY MORE OF THAT UNTIL NEXT YEAR!"

Some of us have problems with transitions, and Rabbit seems to be the only one in the woods who is going to miss snow. Ever the contrarian, he points out that snow helps him track down his friends, and it is useful for snow forts and snowball fights.

Bird points out that Rabbit won't be cold when spring comes, and besides, he and Mouse are not going anywhere anyway.

But Rabbit has another complaint.

"THE THING ABOUT SPRING IS THAT BEAR IS WAKING UP. I KNOW HOW BAD HE SMELLS AT THE END OF A LONG WINTER, AND I'M SURE HE'LL WANT A HUG."

And right on cue, a disheveled Bear appears, and Rabbit, holding his nose, suffers through a stinky embrace, just as a warm vernal drizzle begins to fall.

"THE THING ABOUT SPRING IS THAT IT RAINS WHEN YOU'RE NOT EXPECTING IT," RABBIT WHINGES.

But Bear replies that the falling rain is right on time to give him a good wash, as he pointedly scrubs his armpits.

But nothing about the change of the seasons pleases Rabbit. It's too noisy. Birds peep and squirrels chatter! It's all so annoying. Rabbit is all hot and bothered from the whole conversation.

And now he is thirsty!

Bear agrees that all this palaver is making him thirsty, too, giving Rabbit a chance to have the last word:

"WELL, THEN," SAID RABBIT, "YOU SHOULD BE GLAD I SAVED SOME SNOW. LOOK INSIDE MY PAIL!"

Daniel Kirk's newest tale, The Thing About Spring (Abrams Books, 2016), gives the curmudgeon in all of us a chance to complain about change. Story books are full of joyful rabbits and bouncy bunnies as the harbinger of spring, but Kirk turns the tables on our expectations with a truly funny bunny who takes a cranky stand in favor of snow. With delightfully wry dialog, he gives his Rabbit his moment in the sun, whether he likes it or not. Kirk's signature style of illustration, with his characters mostly full frontal or profiled, has a look all his own, giving this novel seasonal story a new twist.

Kirk's earlier books include his popular Library Mouse
series and Ten Thank-You Letters.

Song of the Open Road: Wherever You Go by Pat Zietlow Miller

WHEN IT'S TIME FOR A JOURNEY, TO LEARN AND EXPLORE,
ROADS GIVE CHANCES TO SEEK AND EXPLORE.

WANT ADVENTURE?
JUST OPEN THE DOOR.

A long-eared bunny sets forth on his bike, the lure of the open road keeping him moving, through autumn woods, past lakes and rivers, country cottages and picturesque villages, lovely cities, mountain peaks and snowy valleys. Along the way he acquires a traveling companion, a gray owl who sometimes flies overhead and sometimes rides in the bicycle basket.

ACROSS FLOWING RIVERS
PAST HARBORS AND BAYS,

WITH BREATHTAKING BRIDGES
DESIGNED TO AMAZE.

But every road is connected, connected to every other road and to every other place, and eventually the rabbit's roads become familiar and the way leads back home.

ROADS TAKE YOU ALL OVER THE PLANET, BUT THEN--
YOU ALWAYS CAN FOLLOW THEM HOME AGAIN.

Remember when it first hit you that everyone you know is connected, that the road outside your door joins other roads that finally lead to that person's front door? That is the joy of Pat Zietlow Miller's Wherever You Go (Little, Brown and Company, 2015). It's a simple idea, but a profound one, made amazing by the evocative and picturesque artwork of Eliza Wheeler. All seasons and all landscapes and cityscapes have their moment in those illustrations, the intrepid travelers stowing the bike on the back of a bus, rolling it onto a ferry, and pedaling it past skyscrapers, castles and pastures. With starred reviews for this book all around, Kirkus Reviews adds theirs, saying, "Children, thanks to captivating artwork and rhyme, will want nothing more than to ride his handlebars, bouncing and merry."

Pat Zietlow Miller is also the author of the delightfully poignant Sophie's Squash (see review here).

Laddies and Ladies, Hare They Are! The Bunny Rabbit Show! by Sandra Boynton

WE'RE TEN TERRIFIC RABBITS

AND WE LOVE TO DANCE AND SING!

Bunnies hop on stage, and sashay through their routine.
They tap dance, high kick, twirl; then they all start to sing.

Hares can be real hams in Sandra Boynton's latest board book box office blockbuster, The Bunny Rabbit Show! (Workman Press, 2014).

With a downloadable song waiting in the wings, and a chorus line of cute cottontail chorines, all star-struck tots, whether they are hoofers, crooners, or divas, can take their turns in the spotlight, belting it out along with the cast of Boynton's rabbit revue.

So shuffle on down to Buffalo
And take your seats right in the front row.
With Boynton's All-Bunny Chorus Line,
They're bound to stop the show!

But, First....! Ready Rabbit Gets Ready by Brenna Maloney

"READY RABBIT! IT'S TIME TO GET READY!"

HE KNOWS IT'S TIME TO GET READY...

BUT FIRST HE NEEDS TO BUILD A SPACESHIP.

In Brenna Maloney's newest, Ready Rabbit Gets Ready! (Viking Press, 2015), her little sock rabbit is ready for anything--except the get-ready-for-school routine.

Mama calls upstairs repeatedly with all the usual mother-talk: Get dressed! Pick up your mess! Don't make me come up there! It's almost time for the bus! But there's just so much to do. Ready Rabbit builds a mighty lego spaceship. Then he pulls out his toy bulldozer and pushes all the scattered playthings into a pile to scoop up later.

He pulls on his tightie whities and then gets lost in trying to decide what sort of superhero he wants to be. Where's his cape? Where's his mask? Hey! Wait!

RABBITS DON'T WEAR CLOTHES!

It's hard to eat his cereal when there's a whale in his bowl.

It's hard to brush his teeth when the toothpaste tube happens to squirt all over the floor.

It's hard to find his backpack when his imaginary motorcycle wants to race upstairs. VROOM! VROOM! But at last he's absolutely, totally ready.

"READY RABBIT! DON'T FORGET TO GO POTTY!"

Ready Rabbit's off-page mom must really be ready to see her little rabbit board the school bus at last, dressed for blast-off and a battle with space aliens whenever they appear. Ready Rabbit is ready!

Author Brenna Maloney (a.k.a. The Socks Queen) puts her little gray-striped sock rabbit through his paces in the morning race for the bus stop in a scenario preschool mothers will recognize. Maloney, famous for her Socks Appeal: 16 Fun & Funky Friends Sewn from Socks, and Sock It To Me: Creepy, Crazy & Strangely Appealing 16 Projects Sewn from Socks has created miniature furniture and toys to distract Ready Rabbit from the task at hand, all charmingly photographed by Chuck Kennedy. With just a few hand-drawn features, in his undies or in his aluminum foil astronaut suit, Ready Rabbit is a character ready to be loved by preschoolers who need some prodding to get really ready, too! In an enthusiastic starred review Publishers Weekly says "When Ready Rabbit finally makes it onto the school bus, readers will wish they could follow him to school. Perhaps Maloney will oblige."

Pair this one with Bethanie Murguia's Zoe Gets Ready or Sarah Maize's On My Way to School., for even more procrastinating merriment.

A Wolf in Bunny Clothing? Wolfie The Bunny by Amy Dyckman

THE BUNNY FAMILY CAME HOME TO FIND A BUNDLE OUTSIDE THEIR DOOR.

THEY PEEKED.

THEY GASPED. IT WAS A BABY WOLF!

"ADORABLE!" SAID MAMA. "HE'S OURS!" SAID PAPA.

It's love at first sight for Mama and Papa Bunny. They adopt little Wolfie without another thought, dressing him up in pink pajamas with bunny ears, totally smitten with their new baby. He is just so cute!

Only daughter Dot sees her new adoptive brother for what he is!

"HE'S GOING TO EAT US ALL UP!" SAID DOT.

But despite Dot's repeated warnings, Mama and Papa seem blind to Wolfie's true nature. Dot is sure Wolfie is just shamming when he appears to prefer carrots, even though he obviously chomps rather than nibbles. But Mama and Papa cite his good behavior. He's a good eater and sleeper, Papa points out. Dot resents the newcomer, but her parents are too snookered with Wolfie to foresee what she sees coming.

Dot's vegetarian friends are not fooled.

""HE'S GOING TO EAT US ALL UP!" THEY SCREAM.

"NO KIDDING!" SAID DOT. "LET'S PLAY AT YOUR HOUSE."

Wolfie grows bigger and so does his appetite. Dot is dispatched to the Carrot Patch to shop for groceries, and Wolfie, towering but still clad in a large pink coverall with rabbit ears, goes along to carry the shopping basket.

Dot is picking through the produce when suddenly Wolfie looks intently in her direction, bares his fangs, and starts to growl. I knew this was going to happen someday, thinks Dot!

Is nature about to trump nurture?

Not this time, in Amy Dyckman's delightful new bunny tale, Wolfie the Bunny (Little, Brown and Company, 2015), which cleverly stands the Ugly Duckling theme on its head. Dot is correct that Wolfie is no bunny rabbit, but Mama and Papa's nurture is vindicated when Wolfie and Dot join forces against a bear who has them both on his dinner menu. Youngsters waiting for Dot to be vindicated will be surprised but pleased when Dot and Wolfie team up to dispatch the bear and join hands, big sister and "little brother," as they head home for a big carrot dinner.

Dyckman's narrative keeps the storytelling tight but punchy, wisely keeping Wolfie out of the dialogue and leaving it to her illustrator to fill in the comic details, and Zachariah OHoro's charming acrylic artwork is pitch-perfect, with simple but telling illustrations of hip, city-dwelling rabbits in a different setting from the usual woodsy big-bad-wolf tale. A pleasant twist on the theme of family love and loyalty, this one will have young readers howling for more Wolfie and Dot stories.

"A treat of a picture book." says The Horn Book, joining most critical journals in their starred reviews.

Hip Hop Bunny: Hooray for Hoppy by Tim Hopgood

HOPPY WOKE UP BRIGHT AND EARLY. HE WIGGLED HIS NOSE AND SNIFFED THE AIR.

"PERHAPS TODAY'S THE DAY," HE THOUGHT.

BUT AT THE TOP OF HIS HOLE, HE SAW THAT THE WORLD WAS COVERED IN SNOW.

"TOO COLD!" HE SAID AND HOPPED BACK TO BED.

When Hoppy finds snow and ice outside, he opts to sleep in. But then, one morning everything has changed. His twitchy nose notices a change as he sniffs fresh warm air and green grass.

"TODAY IS THE DAY. THE DAY THAT SPRING ARRIVES!"

Hoppy hops out and his senses are overwhelmed by everything!

There are pink blossoms on the formerly bare tree. Young ferns are unfurling, and Hoppy hears birds calling instead of the muffled quiet of winter.

He smells sweet flowers, tastes the fresh grasses, and sees young lambs springing about the meadow.

The pads on his paws feel the warmth of the earth. Spring has definitely sprung!

Hoppy hops up to the crest of the big hill to look for his bunny buddies, but at first he sees only brown smudges among the flowers and grasses.  Where is everybody? Helloooo?

But up they hop, dozens of brown bunnies, in the appropriately surnamed Tim Hopgood's Hooray for Hoppy! (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2014), which doubles as a signs-of-spring bunny tale and an exploration of the five senses story, just the kick-off for a lesson on the many changes to be experienced in spring for the preschool set. Hopgood's illustrations are suited to his young audience--flat, textured pastel collages done in a spring-y palette--but with a twist, with Hoppy himself in blue and the morning sky in pink. A good readaloud to inspire a looking-for-spring walk or preschool seasonal class activities. The author appends a double-page spread covering the five senses and recall questions such as What does Hoppy smell? And if spring is slow in coming, Kirkus Reviews suggests that this one is..."just the ticket for a little bit of learning on a cold winter day when spring seems far away."

"If Winter Comes, Can Spring Be Far Behind?" Bunny's First Spring by Sally Lloyd-Jones and David McPhail

BUNNY WAS BORN IN SPRING

WHEN THE WORLD WAS GREEN AND NEW.

"THE EARTH IS NEW LIKE ME!" HE SAID.

Bunny is thrilled with everything, all fresh and young and bright!

Flowers and butterflies are all around, as he sets out to meet all the other new forest babies, the robins and lambs who frisk and call energetically from the greening fields and trees.

Bunny grows bigger and stronger through spring and summer. Then one day he notices that his fur has gotten very thick. That's fine, but then he notices something that is disturbing. His favorite apple tree is dropping all her leaves, and his friends the robins are all flying away.

DON'T GO!" HE CRIES.

Bunny's mother and father advise him to wait and see what happens, but he doesn't understand. The cold winds blow, ruffling his thick coat, and then snow covers the wilted, brown plants. Frost turns the soft earth where he played to stone. His apple tree in the moonlight is like a skeleton of its summer self.

But the wilted flowers from beneath their snow blanket whisper that they are just hiding, and the apple tree shows Bunny something he hadn't noticed.

"OUR BRANCHES MAY LOOK BARE,

BUT ALL OUR BUDS ARE THERE!"

And in those waiting buds on the bare branches is nature's eternal promise that spring will come, and life will go on, in Sally Lloyd-Jones lyrical poem to the life cycle in Bunny's First Spring (ZonderKids Books, 2015). Notable illustrator David McPhail's gentle and realistic paintings celebrate the vitality of spring and summer and the promise of rebirth in the waiting winter forest beautifully for youngsters "grieving over Goldengrove unleaving."* A softer, more hopeful look at the little death that is winter, Lloyd-Jones and McPhail have crafted a lovely look at the seasons and the joy in spring that all creatures share.

"SPRING! IT'S THE BIRTHDAY OF THE WORLD!" SAYS BUNNY.

*Poem, "Spring and Fall: To a Young Child" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Peter Hits the Midway: The Spectacular Tale of Peter Rabbit by Emma Thompson

IT WAS HIGH SUMMER AND PETER RABBIT HAD A COLD. HE LAY ON HIS BACK ON A PIECE OF DRY MOSS, LOOKING UP AT THE CLOUDS AND SNEEZING.

HE WAS BORED.

JUST THEN, AS IF CARRIED ON THE BREEZE, HE HEARD THE FAINT SOUNDS OF DRUM AND FIFE. PETER SAT UP.

A TRAVELING FUN-FAIR HAD COME TO THE VILLAGE!

Will Peter lie back down and continue his convalescence quietly, close to the care of the watchful Mother Rabbit?

Not the Peter we know and love!

Forgetting his sniffles, Peter recruits his well-intentioned but easily-led cousin Benjamin Bunny, and the two runaways sneak away to the forbidden fair, where they are filled with wonder at the sight of the coconut-shy, the Punch and Judy Show, the roller coaster, the oddities tent, and the carousel. At the shooting gallery, the two bunnies watch a man bring down three decoy ducks to win a stuffed cross-eyed cat for his little daughter, but then, something unforeseen happens!

The gleeful little girl snatches Peter up, believing he is her plush prize, stuffs him deep in her tote bag, and boards the enormous roller coaster.

BENJAMIN BUNNY WATCHES IN HORROR.

"OH, MY POOR COUSIN! WHAT WILL BECOME OF HIM?"

Peter is certainly not bored now. With the loyal Benjamin following behind, Peter, upside down, with his ears quite bent, can only hope for a rescue, preferably after he gets his ride on the merry-go-round, as he and the little girl board many a hare hair-raising ride. At last Benjamin manages to pull his cousin out of the bag, and the chase is on!

It's the usual hare hairbreath (okay, I'll stop now) escape for Peter and Benjamin as they finally outrun the irate little girl, and it's a very dusty and worn Peter and Benjamin who finally flop onto the floor of Mother Rabbit's burrow, in Emma Thompson's third "new" tale of Peter Rabbit, The Spectacular Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 2014). Author Thompson hasn't changed Peter a whisker from his original persona created by Beatrix Potter. Peter is still the quintessential harebrained runaway, eager for adventure as always, and artist Eleanor Taylor's large-format illustrations keep Potter's characters charmingly familiar to fans of the original classics.

Hear actress and author Emma Thompson read aloud a bit of this story here.

Thompson's other Peter Rabbit stories are The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit (Read my 2013 review here) and The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Santa Paws? The Animals' Santa by Jan Brett

IT'S YOUR FIRST CHRISTMAS EVER, LITTLE SNOW."

THE ANIMALS' SANTA COMES TONIGHT," BIG SNOWSHOE TOLD HIS LITTLE BROTHER.

"I THINK YOU ARE FOOLING ME," SAID LITTLE SNOW.

The little snowshoe hare is skeptical. Who could this Santa be? Hasn't anyone ever found his tracks? Somebody must have seen him!

Little Shoe sets out on a fact-finding mission. He interviews Porcupine, Squirrel, Raven, and Arctic Fox, who describe how the gifts just seemed to drop from above for them. They each have their own ideas--from a mouse to a white wolf--but Little Shoe thinks they are all wrong. And he's going to prove it.

Meanwhile Big Snowshoe decides it is time to put up some Christmas decorations, and breaking the ice on the stream, he hangs the frozen shards from the fir branches to make Yuletide wind chimes. It's all quite lovely, but Little Shoe sees no trace of this animals' Santa anywhere.

BUT SUDDENLY A BUNDLE OF FRESH CLOVER FALLS AT HIS FEET!

A year without a new Jan Brett holiday story is like a winter without a snowflake, and this year we're in luck with Brett's latest, The Animals' Santa (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2014).  Filled with her painstakingly detailed draftsmanship  and glorious colors set against the whitest of snowfalls, this latest Brett tale tells the old story of the little doubter who sets out to prove who or what Santa really is. With her trademark foreshadowing borders decorating each delightful page, this is yet another great story to join her many Christmas classics, Home for Christmas, The Wild Christmas Reindeer, Christmas Trolls, The Night Before Christmas, Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? and The Twelve Days of Christmas, to cite some of Brett's many holiday gifts to children.

Fable Fare! Lion Vs. Rabbit by Alex Latimer

LION WAS MEAN TO EVERYONE.

Lion is the scourge of the savanna. the prankster of the plains, out to humiliate all the other animals, he even dares to play his dirty tricks on creatures faster and bigger than he is.

ONE AFTERNOON HE GAVE  BUFFALO A WEDGIE.

Something must be done, the animals agree, and they advertise an award for anyone who can put Lion in his place.

But none of the applicants--Baboon, Musk Ox, Giraffe, even Elephant--have the right stuff to lay it on Lion.

Finally, Rabbit applies.  Lion struts at the size of his new opponent.

"YOU'RE SMALL!  I WILL LET YOU CHOOSE THE CONTEST," SAYS LION.

"ALL RIGHT," SAYS RABBIT.

Rabbit challenges Lion to a marshmallow-eating contest. Lion downs three baskets, but Rabbit somehow manages to put away ten!

Lion whines that his stomach was feeling queasy, so Rabbit comes up with another challenge, a quiz show. Lion blanks out, and Rabbit offers two more trials--hopping, and painting. Lion predictably poops out at hopping, and loses the art competition when Rabbit reproduces a rabbit-eared Mona Lisa. Lion complains and offer excuses until Rabbit gives him the chance to choose the next contest, winner take all.

Lion chooses a race to the nearby snow capped mountain peak.

But despite Lion's considerable speed and endurance, Rabbit somehow seems to be always on the ledge just ahead of him. How does he DO it?

Alex Latimer's Lion vs Rabbit (Peachtree Publishing, 2014) offers up a tongue-in-cheek twist on the old fable of "The Tortoise and the Hare," with a modern emphasis on outwitting the local bully. Latimer's illustrations offer funny details (Buffalo in his whitie tighties, for example) and wryly foreshadow how Rabbit manages to outdo his rival, with teasing glimpses of the many assorted co-conspirator rabbits partially hidden on his pages, pointing up the role of the power of numbers as well as power of sly wit in doing in a bully. This one is both a beating-the-bully at his own game and a humorous new-fangled fractured fable for young readers.

Live and Kicking: Betty Bunny Wants a Goal by Michael Kaplan

Betty Bunny was a handful.

She knew this because at her very first practice, when she picked up the ball and ran with it, her coach said, "Betty Bunny, you are a handful."

Betty Bunny wants what she wants when she wants it.

And now that she's on a soccer team, she doesn't want to set herself a goal; she wants to score a goal and she wants it NOW!

Brother Henry whines about having to go to Betty's games. Teen brother Bill rolls his eyes and smirks.

"There probably won't be any goals," 

And Bill is right, at least about Betty's scoring prowess. Betty discovers she can't kick anything, except, inexplicably, her own foot. Back home, Betty stuffs her uniform into her trash can and launches into a full-time funk. Sister Kate gives her the old "try, try again" speech and reminds her that at the end of the season everybody gets a trophy, "no matter how bad she plays." Reluctantly, Betty fishes her jersey out of the trash.

But the next game is no better.

"I tried and tried, just like you said, Kate," Betty moaned.

"Maybe you're just not that good!" points out big brother Bill.

Mom and Dad are tired of Betty's moaning and Bill's snarky remarks. They decree that Betty will finish the season and that Bill will coach her every day after school.

"Why can't I learn to keep my big mouth shut?" Bill said.

"Maybe you need to practice," suggested Betty helpfully.

Practice doesn't make perfect, but Betty progresses and finally does score her goal.

Next to the first time she tried chocolate cake, it was the the happiest moment of her life.

In Michael Kaplan's latest Betty Bunny tale, Betty Bunny Wants a Goal (Dial Books, 2014), the fun comes from interplay between the impetuous and annoying Betty and her sister and two brothers. Sister Kate tries to mentor her insistent little sister, while Henry and Bill can't quite help lapsing into sarcastic side comments, while the parents preside over the siblingitis with perturbed patience. Stephanie Jorisch's frenetic illustrations cleverly portray the ebb and flow of emotions that swirl around Betty, a one-bunny vortex of energy who sucks the whole household into her high-maintenance manias. Preschoolers will understand Betty's whirlwind drive to have it all, and older kids and parents will enjoy the humorous interplay between the rest of the characters drawn into Betty's turbulent wake.

Other books in the Betty Bunny series include Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake (see review here) and sequels, Betty Bunny Wants Everything, Betty Bunny Is Very Busy, and Betty Bunny Didn't Do It.

Rabbit en Pointe! A Bunny in the Ballet by Robert Beck

OF THE GREAT MANY THINGS IN THIS WORLD THAT WE RABBITS LOVE DOING, BALLET DANCING TOPS THE LIST.

AT LEAST IT DOES FOR ME, DESIREE RABBIT.

BUT THERE WERE NO BUNNIES IN THE BALLET....

But that does not deter Desiree Bunny, who just knows that her particular pings, jumps, and whooshes are just what the Parisienne ballet needs. Hoping for an audition for the Ecoles de Danse, Desi encounters Mdme. Molotov, the dragon at the door administrative assistant, who definitively declares...

"THERE ARE NO BUNNIES IN THE BALLET."

Still, Desiree manages to slip into the practice room and impresses the dancing mistress with her whirls and whooshes, and she finds a place in the class.

Attired in pink leotard and tights, pink tutu and slippers, Desi shows up and works hard, even when she finds the class dressed all in blue and high skeptical that a bunny belongs in the ballet.  And when it is time for Mr. Cloud to assign roles for the holiday performance of The Nutcracker,  Desiree earns the part of....Marie's pet bunny. Irked at the type casting, Desiree goes along with the assignment and plays it perfectly. But when the second act is almost ready to begin, Mr. Cloud discovers that his prima ballerina for the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy is unable to go on.

"I CAN DO IT!" SAID DESIREE.

Pigs (Olivia) do it, mice (Angelina) do it, very fairy princesses (Geraldine) do it, even little leg-losing zombies (Zombelina) do it, so why not a bunny ballerina? At least, that's the premise of Robert Beck's new A Bunny in the Ballet (Orchard Books, 2014). Beck doesn't skip a cliche as he recycles the plot of the eager young member of the corps de ballet who secretly understudies the star and steps in when the grand jete' must go on. Where Beck's story is most improvisational is in his distinctive highly expressive illustrations, with characters and the Parisienne backdrop stylishly portrayed in a few swooping lines and soft watercolor wash. Overcoming the odds is the premise into which Beck works ballet terms and routine, in a story that will appeal to young ballerinas who plan to beat the odds of becoming prima ballerinas themselves.

For a whole corps de ballet of stories, see some of the competition here!

Hide & Peek: What Noise Does A Rabbit Make? by Carrie Weston

BUNNY, BUNNY, DON'T YOU PEEK.

BUNNY, BUNNY,  HIDE AND SEEK!

Little gray Bunny is thrilled to play a new game with his friends, but he's not really up on exactly how to be IT.

While he counts, the other animals dash off and hide--not all that well, actually.

But still Bunny is better at the running part than at the seeking part.  Even with the dubious help of a little mole, he can't seem to spot anybody--not even turtle, who has merely pulled his head and legs under his shell and sits there right before his eyes. Hare is visible through the tall grass.  Skunk is clearly smell-able, but Bunny doesn't follow up on the olfactory clue. Even with the little Mole hinting broadly where he should look, Bunny misses Owl, Bear, and Squirrel, hiding almost in plain sight.

Bunny is bummed. He can't find anybody! He hops deeper into the woods, and it's beginning to look like his friends are going to have to find him!

But it seems Bunny has already found good friends who won't let him worry alone for too long, in Carrie Weston's story of a bunny lost and found, Peek-a-Boo Bunny (HarperCollins, 2014).  While her sweet  story of  a novice hide-and-seeker is simple, her illustrations offer much for the reader to search out.  Done up artfully in mixed media (a collage of paint and plaster overlaid with digitally-drawn vines, grasses, and flowers that frame each page), each double-page spread provides the active reader a chance to spy out the animals that Bunny can't quite spot.  As Kirkus Reviews puts it, "Preschoolers who are just beginning to understand the game of hide-and-seek will find this irresistible." A fine find for Easter baskets or spring storytime treats.

Getting An Earful: Listen, Buddy by Helen Lester and Lynn Munsinger

BUDDY HAD BEAUTIFUL BIG EARS.

IT DIDN'T MATTER.

WHEN BUDDY'S PARENTS SENT HIM TO THE VEGETABLE STAND TO GET A BASKET OF SQUASH, HE CAME HOME WITH A BASKET OF WASH.

It's not the hardware; it's the software. His brain doesn't seem to  be processing the transmission from Buddy's big ears. When sent for fifteen tomatoes, he returns with fifty potatoes. His dad gets a hen when he asks for a pen. His mom wants a slice of bread to make breakfast toast. What she gets is a freshly sawed slice of bed. His parents try everything--yelling, whispering, lecturing. But all their messages seem to get scrambled somewhere in their boy's brain.

Then they decide to let Buddy go out on his own for a while. They have only one instruction.

"THE PATH TO THE LEFT WILL LEAD YOU AROUND THE POND AND BACK HOME. BUT THE PATH TO THE RIGHT WILL LEAD YOU TO THE CAVE OF THE SCRUFFY VARMINT.

SO BE SURE TO TAKE THE PATH TO THE LEFT."

"RIGHT?" ASKED BUDDY.

"LEFT!" SAID HIS PARENTS.

"RIGHT!" SAID BUDDY.

Of course, everyone knows where this one is going except the befuddled Buddy. Left is right is too much for Buddy's brain to sort out, and he soon finds himself on the path to the dreaded Scruffy Varmint's slatternly cave. He comes upon the Varmint, who is thinking of making a big pot of soup and glad to see a little errand boy appear at his door. He dispatches Buddy to fetch firewood, get five pinches of salt and some flour, the ever popular fifteen tomatoes, and a load of squash, with predictable results from Buddy, But when he orders Buddy to put the soup on the fire and Buddy pours the whole mess, including a load of dirty laundry, on the fire, the Varmint decides to take over the soup-making himself.

"I WILL HAVE SOUP!  BUNNYRABBIT SOUP,  THE BUNNYRABBIT WHO NEVER LISTENS!"

By the creators of such hits as Hooway for Wodney Wat;   Wodney Wat's Wobot, and Tacky the Penguin and its many sequels, Helen Lester's and Lynn Munsinger's cute little cautionary tale, Listen, Buddy (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), all dressed up in a new hardback reissue, is a humorous homily on learning to listen for youngsters who tune out their parents' admonitions. Munsinger's illustrations of this little long-eared bunny and his doting but discouraged parents add just the right humor to this jolly little lesson in the Peter Rabbit tradition.