The Things We Do for Love! LAWRENCE: The Bunny Who Wanted To Be Naked by Vern Kousky

Mrs. Rabbit is no clotheshorse herself. She just loves to dress up her cute little bunny. She favors outlandish styles and bold and bright hues and patterns.

Bunny Lawrence? Not so much.
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And if there's the slightest chill in the air, his mom dresses him in a hand-knitted snowsuit with a couple of scarves and four stacking stocking caps--with pom poms on top. Geez!

But Lawrence only wants to hop naked through the fields.

Lawrence asks why not dare to be bare?

"You are not every bunny. You are my one and only sweet little love bunny." his mother replies.

Lawrence gets it that the "special" outfits are his mother's way of showing that he is loved. But still, he doesn't love going about in hats that look borrowed from a medieval jester, clashing billboard colors and patterns, and too-tight yoga pants.

At last Lawrence smiles--and not a sweet-little love-bunny smile.

Turn-about is fair play, and Lawrence works all night to surprise his mother with a custom-made outfit printed with ginormous shapes and trimmed with fuzzy red fringe. There's even a three-pointed jester's hat in matching fabric. Mrs. Rabbit dutifully dons the get-up and wears it on her daily rounds, but she can't wait to get home and shed her goofy get-up for her everyday fur.

But an equally silly Valentine's Day and Mothers' Day dress follows. And her Yuletide outfit makes her look like a walking Christmas tree!Finally Mrs. Rabbit gets the message.

And then Mrs. Rabbit gets a great idea. To show her fondness for her love bunny, she fashions exotic kites from all the gaudy gowns and outrageous outfits for her and Lawrence to fly together, and both of them dare to be bare and do it wearing only their furry birthday suits, in Vern Kousky's latest giggler, Lawrence: The Bunny Who Wanted to Be Naked (Schwartz and Wade, 2020). Moms who love to dress up their beloved tots will possibly get a clue from Lawrence, and kids who like to turn the tables on their parents will find this one a satisfyingly silly story. But, warns Booklist, "Be prepared for streaking toddlers!"

Peter's Present: A Christmas Wish (A Peter Rabbit Tale) created by Beatrix Potter

It was Christmas Eve. Inside a cozy, warm burrow, four little bunnies were getting ready for Christmas Day.

Flopsy wishes for a toy; Mopsy wants a tea set. Cottontail hopes for a train. But Peter just murmurs that he wants the best thing in the world.
Mama Rabbit moves them along through their baths toward bedtime, with a quiet word to the wise.

"Santa Claus comes only when every bunny is fast asleep,"she tells her brood.

But Peter can't sleep. Every little sound seems to be Santa--until he realizes he's only hearing normal night noises. He frets that if Santa doesn't come, it will be his fault for being still awake.

But somehow Santa Claus always finds the right time to come, and the first thing Peter sees in the morning are the bunnies' presents waiting under the twinkling tree, in A Christmas Wish: A Peter Rabbit Tale (Frederick Warne, 2017).

All the tingly anticipation of Christmas Eve night is here in this small board book with pictures drawn from Beatrix Potter's original Tales of Peter Rabbit, with just a tiny glimpse of Santa's boots beside the tree for young readers to discover. Whether the child is one of those who wants to wait up to spy on Santa, or one who worries that being awake will make St. Nick will pass him by, this is a good read for real Christmas Eve awaiters.