Little White Rabbit

Dipping into the grassy, blossoming palette of his My Garden, Henkes depicts a bunny's spring day. His sequence salutes Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd's classic The Runaway Bunny, for this little white rabbit also has a good imagination. "When he hopped through the high grass, he wondered what it would be like to be green," and "When he hopped by the fir trees, he wondered what it would be like to be tall." Each time the rabbit ponders another way of life, a wordless spread follows, picturing him camouflaged, tree-height, or transformed into a stone bunny for an entire day. Spying a cat, the bunny darts home to nuzzle a mother rabbit (also reminiscent of Brown and Hurd's): "he didn't wonder who loved him." In Henkes's colored pencil and acrylic closeups of the young rabbit, a moss-green outline and typeface (rather than a neutral black or brown) suggest verdant meadows and warm forests. Cool pink, soft blue, and dandelion yellow wildflowers will remind some of an Easter basket. Sweet and soft, this picture book heralds a sunny spring. Ages 2-7. (Feb.) Copyright 2010 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

PreS--A quiet gem of a picture book about a small bunny with a big imagination. "When he hopped through the high grass, he wondered what it would be like to be green." Each burst of curiosity is followed by a spread of envisioning. For example, when he wonders what it would be like to be tall as a fir tree, readers are treated to a depiction of a huge rabbit leaning on the upper boughs of a hemlock, communing with the birds. In the tradition of Eric Carle's The Mixed-Up Chameleon (Crowell, 1975) and Margaret Wise Brown's The Runaway Bunny (HarperCollins, 1942), Little White Rabbit is perfect for preschoolers. The colored pencil and acrylic illustrations in cheery springtime pastels have fuzzy textures and broad outlines that are enormously appealing. Henkes often manages to combine the static and kinetic so that his protagonist seems frozen in mid-leap. And just when you think this little rabbit has settled in for the night with his loving family, that lively curiosity reappears, ready to begin another adventure.--Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.