Fear the Bunny

A little tiger comes upon a circle of forest animals who are listening in fear and fascination as a hedgehog recites, “Bunnies, bunnies, burning bright, in the forests of the night—.” Tiger, who clearly knows his William Blake (there’s a hat tip to the poet in the end papers), begs to differ. Flexing muscles in both arms, Tiger declares the poem is about “ME! The most feared animal in the forest. There’s nothing scary about a bunny.” Darkness falls, and the animals earnestly urge the ferocious feline to join them in taking cover (“You are in grave danger”), but Tiger continues to scoff as one rabbit arrives (“What’s he going to do? CUTE me to death?”) and just barely avoids being trampled by what is evidently a nightly stampede of headlamp-wearing rabbits. Morris (Sheep 101) and Burris (Natsumi!) don’t make quite enough of the comically dreaded event itself. But the setup, with its sweet-natured, crayonlike drawings providing counterpoint to ominously—and comically—escalating dialogue, is faultless and funny. Ages 4–8 [em](Feb.) [/em]