A Forest Full of Music

A young rabbit longs to sing. Toby, a brown puffball with ears sticking straight up to a triangular point, hears the blackbirds singing every night and wishes that he could join them. But his mother admonishes him: "Silly boy," she tells him. "Rabbits can't sing." Still, Toby is determined, and his friend Tim, a bushy-tailed squirrel, encourages him to follow his dream. Unfortunately, when Toby opens his mouth, a horrible screeching sound comes out instead of a beautiful melody. Embarrassed, Toby runs into the woods. He cries and stomps his feet in anger. But, in a moment of transformation, those staccato noises turn out to be music of their own. Ambient nature sounds—the tap of a woodpecker's beak, a deer banging his antlers against a tree—combine to create a grand woodland concerto. Thrumming with onomatopoeias, the sounds swirl between hues of greens and yellows that brighten the forest setting. Originally published in Dutch, this tale is a bit wordy, but love and respect for music—and how it can be expressed in unexpected ways—shine through. Appended "Rabbit Tips for Making Music" encourage readers to stomp, tap, clap, and make other sounds to fill the room. Reframes the idea of what music might be. - Kirkus Reviews