Quiet Bunny

In the first book that McCue (who has illustrated several Corduroy books) has both written and illustrated, a plush-looking little rabbit who loves the sounds of the forest, discovers, after some fits and starts, that he too has something to offer. McCue's textual cues, which encourage audience participation, are the hook here: “First the cricket, ch-cheet ch-cheet ch-cheet.... And the tiny mosquitoes, nNNnnnnnnnNnnn.” More imitations are encouraged when, over the course of the next day, Quiet Bunny surveys his friends in search of possible signature sounds—none of which he's equipped to make. Only when an owl advises, “Be whoooooo you are,” does Quiet Bunny discover his inner Thumper as he leaps onto a log. McCue employs language and conceits that are mushy and overly familiar—it's only his aural fixation that saves Quiet Bunny from being something of a wuss. But the author's idyllic settings and canny sense of story-time dynamics should make this one a favorite. Ages 4–6. (Apr.)