Milo the Really Big Bunny

Unlike Tacky the Penguin , who revels in his individuality, Krensky's (Big Bad Wolves at School ) Milo, a giant rabbit, wants to fit in. On the copyright page, Suber's (The Lily ) splashy acrylic painting portrays the hero next to a row of normal rabbits: Milo is so comically enormous that only his body fits on the page, like a family photo with the tallest person's head lopped off. The hero resembles a cavorting purple walrus; even on Milo's buck-toothed face, one eye or the other changes size from page to page. When the Easter Bunny advertises a contest to find a helper, Milo enters with good intentions and plenty of enthusiasm. Children will identify with huge Milo's unintentional clumsiness as the other bunnies appear shocked by his spattered Easter eggs and get trapped within Milo's lopsided basket. But when the holiday arrives on a rainy Sunday morning, the Easter Bunny satisfyingly chooses Milo to help him wade through puddles to deliver the eggs. Krensky's text begins well enough but hammers home the message using therapeutic language. At the day's conclusion, Milo "felt a lot better about himself" and although he "ate as much as before,... none of that mattered anymore... because Milo had found his place at last." Ages 4-6. (Feb.)