Thunder Bunny

Cloud animals come to life in this surreal yarn, in which everyone and everything-from people to houses to sculptures-wears a cheerful grin. One day, ""just after a thunderstorm,"" a giant painted egg falls to earth. Three children tend the egg ("" `I'll sit on it!' shouted Chops""), and a white bunny emerges. Thunder Bunny grows to ""the size of a big friendly dog... a big friendly cow... a big friendly house."" He becomes unhappy with terra firma, however, so the children climb on his back and soar into the air in search of his ""mommy."" Along the way, the adventurers hop from Chatterland, populated by gregarious green beings, to Scribblearia, where art is created by living Kandinsky- and Klee-like shapes. Greenblat (Uncle Wizzmo's New Used Car) tells the sort of frankly convoluted story a child might invent about a sky kingdom (""Cloudland was filled with all kinds of extra-large fluffy creatures""). The folksy narrative contrasts with the high-resolution, postmodern imagery, rendered in slick, airbrushed hues of Pepto-Bismol pink and plasticky baby blue. The whimsy here feels self-conscious. Ages 4-8. (Feb.)