Hush, Little Bunny

This version of “Hush Little Baby” moves out of the bedroom rocking chair and into the big, wide world in early spring as a father bunny coaxes his little one (“Come, little bunny, don’t be shy”) into the fast-melting snow. There’s new clover to eat and trees in bloom, and when trouble appears—a hawk circling overhead, an encounter with another little bunny who’s a biter—Papa always knows what to do. In the former case, he hustles his baby to “a nest safe underground”; in the latter, he strikes an intimidating pose while his bunny snuggles between his feet. Loose mixed-media illustrations by Stein (Interrupting Chicken) capture all the wonder and energy of spring: pages glow with striations of sunlight, and landscape features take shape in fluid, kinetic lines. In one spread, the two sit quietly by a pond listening to a blackbird’s song. In another (“And when the sun is sinking fast/ we’ll tunnel softly through the grass”), only the insides of the bunnies’ orange-tinted ears, pointed straight up, are visible as dandelion seeds dance overhead. Ages 4–8. [em]Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (Jan.) [/em]