Suki: The Very Loud Bunny

Suki, a young white rabbit with a gray spot over her right eye, splashes in mud puddles and shouts about the tastiness of dandelion greens. Her fellow rabbits watch her with concern, and her mother warns, "Suki, we mustn't call attention to ourselves.... We're bunnies." Suki does not take well to discipline, and she pooh-poohs her more cautious brother's advice to "stay in the burrows." Defying everyone, she takes a solo adventure across a field, encountering perils that recall those faced by the independent duckling in The Story About Ping. The D'Amicos (Ella the Elegant Elephant) picture Suki's woodland habitat with leafy bowers and birches, toadstools, and butterflies. Steven D'Amico draws the white bunnies (not your typical brown forest residents) with pink ears and paw pads, using the curvy lines and gumdrop smoothness of conventional animation. Readers will know how Suki feels when she is teased for yelling unnecessarily, but this is not a story advocating silence. Suki lands in a threatening situation where she must call for help, demonstrating the advantages of a loud voice and underlining school and home safety lessons. Ages 3–5. (Jan.)