No Bunny? Fancy Nancy and the Missing Easter Bunny by Jane O'Connor

OOH-LA-LA! Look at my eggs! They are tres magnifique'! That's fancy for magnificent!

Tomorrow is Easter, and we are almost ready for our Easter egg hunt!

Being good big sisters, Nancy Clancy and her best friend Bree are hostessing an Easter Egg hunt for their little siblings, JoJo and Freddy. And there's a special guest--the Easter Bunny. Well, not the real one, exactly!

It's JoJo's turn to take home her classroom pet, Nibbles the Rabbit, for the weekend. What could be a better party accessory than their own Easter Bunny on Easter Sunday!

Nancy and Bree have decorated plenty of fancy eggs (Nancy's are decorated with lace and feathers!) and they are all hidden in places just right for the preschoolers to find, and the refreshments are all ready for the apres-hunt picnic. Nibbles is all set to watch the fun from her cage, where she has plenty of fresh lettuces to, well, nibble!

But when Freddy sees a real bunny. he is fascinated.

Freddy wants to play with Nibbles, but my mom doesn't want her hopping away.

It can't hurt to let her out for just a little while.

What could possibly go wrong, right?

And of course when Nancy stashes Nibbles back in the cage, she forgets to lock it, and halfway through what seems a successful egg hunt, Nancy notices Nibbles is missing and knows that it is her fault.

SACRE BLEU! This is dreadful! (That's even worse than very, very, very bad!)

Should I tell my parents? Or perhaps I can find Nibbles before JoJo notices she's disappeared!

While the others are busy filling their baskets, Nancy frantically starts a search for the missing Nibbles. Will the big Easter egg hunt end in une terrible tragedie?

But who knew Nancy Clancy had such fantastique tracking skills? In Jane O'Connors' Fancy Nancy and the Missing Easter Bunny (Harper Festival, 2017), it's a Sherlock moment as Nancy follows paw prints and lettuce scraps to locate the missing bunny, and save the day, All's well... except that while Nancy is on her big bunny hunt, everyone else has filled their baskets with every one of the hidden eggs. But solutions are what best friends are for, and Bree comes through with a great idea, one that even adds to the fun of the party. Assistant artist Carolyn Bracken provides the perfect pastel palette for the holiday hi-jinks in this just-published new addition to the evergreen best-selling Fancy Nancy series, one that makes a superbe (and sugar-free) gift for Eastertide.

I Want To Be a Ballerina by Anna Membrino

I WANT TO BE A BALLERINA--JUST LIKE MY SISTER.

Mia's got a case of sibling rivalry--and a touch of tutu lust, too. Like a lot of little would-be ballerinas, it's the couture as much as the art that gives her a yen to dance.

She's got the tights, the leotard, the soft ballet shoes, and, of course, the tutu. But, as her big sister reminds her, the clothes don't make the ballerina. She needs balance.

BUT MIA," MY SISTER SAYS, "YOU TRIP ON THE STAIRS."

And then Sis goes on to enumerate the qualities that Mia also lacks--co-ordination and graceful moves, for starters. But the spunky Mia comes right back at her with the right attitude.

"I JUST NEED PRACTICE!"

Sis relents and takes Mia to observe her ballet class, and Mia tries to follow along from the sidelines. It's hard, Mia agrees, even if her tutu is as fluffy as anyone's. But she still believes that practice makes perfect and she won't quit until she can be a ballerina, too. And her sister is convinced that she has the right stuff.

"NOW WE CAN PRACTICE TOGETHER!"

It takes more than the tutu, as young ballerinas soon discover, in Anna Membrino's I Want to be a Ballerina (Random House, 2014). Preschool prima ballerina wannabes will giggle at Mia as she tries to improve her grace, trying not to clomp in Mom's high heels, and her sense of balance by stacking blocks and building a pyramid of cards, while absorbing the warning that dance requires discipline as well. Artist Smiljana Coh's bobble-head ballerinas, both boys and girls, keep the mood light as Mia tries to make all the right moves. Pair this one with Marilyn Singer's delightful Tallulah's Tutu and sequels (see reviews here).