April Fool? That's Not BUNNY! by Chris Barton

FROM HIGH IN HIS PERCH, HAWK WAITED FOR A CHANCE.

IN THE GARDEN BELOW, A MOVEMENT CAUGHT HIS EYE. DOWN HE SPED.

A hungry hawk has staked out a vegetable garden. No, he's not stalking the wild asparagus. There's bound to be a rabbit there sooner or later, he figures, and that means dinner! With a rabbit finally in his sights, Hawk dives, thrusts out his talons, shrieks a cry of victory, and soars back to his nest, ready to do the raptor captor thing.

But, WHAT TH'...???

In his talons is a super-sized carrot.

His prey, a plump and tender rabbit toodling to his hole with a barrow full of veggies, has grabbed the nearest garden product and used it for a hawk shield.

Hawk leaves the carrot and returns to his perch for another try. Ah, here comes that wascally wabbit waddling wight by with his wee wittle wheelbarrow.

SWOOSH! SHRIEK! OOooops!

Hawk pulls up from his dive to discover his claws grasping--a cucumber? A cuke fluke?

A third attack comes up with a head of lettuce. It's a nice one, but still...

OH, COME ON! I JUST HUNTED A HEAD OF LETTUCE?

As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And when Hawk winds up with a nest full of potential side dishes, is he gonna make a salad? It's a veritable vegetarian day for this raptor in Chris Barton's newest, That's Not Bunny! (Disney Hyperion, 2016). Barton's old-fashioned comic characters have the retro look and sound of 1960s Saturday morning cartoons that will tickle young readers' funny-bunny bones. "Perfect for reading aloud, this is a great addition to picture book collections," says School Library Journal.

Chris Barton is also the author-illustrator of the top-selling Shark vs. Train (read my review here).

Basic Brief-ing: Veggies With Wedgies by Todd Doodler

It all begins when Farmer Jones carefully hangs his family's laundry outside to dry.

What can happen, right?

If the clothesline features undies, lots of super silly storybook lines are sure to follow, at least if author-cartoonist Todd Doodler is in the vicinity of the vegetable garden.

"WHAT ARE THOSE?" ASKED PUMPKIN.

Cuke hasn't a clue, but thinks they are cool. Beet thinks they look beguiling. Mushroom thinks they look mysterious. Nobody knows what they are, but Asparagus aims for a pair anyway. Pea pipes up with a supposition that they are undies brought by the Underwear Fairy.

Carrot pops up and pointedly offers a brief explanation of the purpose of undergarments.

"UNDERWEAR IS WHAT PEOPLE WEAR UNDER THEIR CLOTHES!

UNDER WEAR! GET IT?"

Of course, nothing will do but that the vegetables take down the Jones' family's drawers and try them on, with many comic misfits ensuing. Mushroom puts one pair of tighty whities on his head. Corn does a lot of hopping and wiggling to stretch the underwear to fit. Onion winds up wearing his backwards, thong style.

"THE VEGGIES ALL HAD TERRIBLE WEDGIES."

Only a Todd Doodler story would set up such a preposterous plot line just to get to that internally rhyming punchline, but as he so ably proved in his top-selling Bear in Underwear books, a man can create a career with unlikely characters drawn in, well, drawers, as he does in his latest, Veggies with Wedgies (Little Simon, 2014).

Underwear is a subject that preschoolers universally perceive as hilarious, and the penchant persists well into the primary years. A stalk of broccoli in briefs or an onion giving himself a wedgie is bound to draw a drawer-ful of giggles from tots just coming to terms with their own underthings. Get to the bottom of undie humor by pairing this one with Claire Freedman's Aliens Love Underpants, Dinosaurs Love Underpants (The Underpants Books) or Aliens in Underpants Save the World (The Underpants Books).

Bernice Is Back! Sophie's Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller

"Good friends are hard to find," said Sophie.

Sophie's mother had hoped that she would learn to like vegetables, but when she and Sophie visit the farmer's market and select a nice winter squash to take home, Mom doesn't quite expect her daughter to love  squash in quite that way.

Sophie adores that squash.  As her bemused calico cat watches, she wraps her in a doll blanket, rocks her, and names her Bernice!  Bernice goes everywhere Sophie goes.

They somersault down the hill, sit together in the storytime circle at the library, and even return to the market for Bernice to visit her squash friends. Sophie and her squash are inseparable.

Mom is matter-of-fact about this dilemma
.

"Bernice is a squash, not a friend," she said one morning as they made blueberry waffles. "If we don't eat her soon, she'll get mushy and gross. Let's bake her with marshmallows!"

"Don't listen to her, Bernice," says Sophie.

Sophie's denial continues through the autumn, even though Bernice's firm golden skin begins to look suspiciously spotty. Dad offers a new toy, even suggesting Sophie substitute a nice, solid sugar beet. Or maybe a goldfish named Ace.  Sophie insists that those brown blotches are just Bernice's freckles, but she herself is getting a bit worried. Hoping to perk Bernice up, she takes her back to visit her friends at the market.

"What keeps a squash healthy?" she asks the farmer.

"Fresh air, good clean dirt, and a little love," he replies.

"I have all that," says Sophie.

Back home, Sophie lovingly tucks Bernice under the earth in a nice sunny spot in her back yard, a spot that is soon covered by autumn leaves and then the winter's snow.

Nature takes it course in Pat Zietlow Miller's debut story of a girl and her squash, and in Sophie's Squash (Schwartz & Wade, 2013), spring brings a surprise in the garden. Bernice sprouts and in due time becomes a spreading plant with little squashes, christened Bonnie and Baxter, for Sophie. Miller's humorous text, her strong-minded Sophie, and artist's Anne Wilsdorf's sweet and sunny-hued illustrations have earned this delightful story well-deserved starred reviews, a fine addition to the turn of the season stories favored in the fall. "With lessons on life, love, and vegetable gardening, this tale will be cherished by children, and their parents will be happy to read it to them often," prophesies School Library Journal.