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.)