Five Funny Bunnies: Three Bouncing Tales

The siblings that make up this floppy-eared quintet squabble and tussle, but they also clearly enjoy being intensely involved in each other’s lives—no one ever says, “Stop tagging along” or “Go away, I’m busy” in these pages (a somewhat harried but always affirming Mrs. Rabbit also makes reassuring appearances). The “funny” promised in the title isn’t exactly LOL material—rather, this is a mild domestic comedy that involves overcrowded baby carriages, falling pies, the downside of being a pretend mother, and a baby who is her own pogo stick. Van Leeuwen’s (Chicken Soup) text rarely transcends a literal outlining of the action, so the visual jokes readers see are pretty much the whole story. Fortunately, Wilsdorf (Homer, the Library Cat) is a winning cartoonist. Her bunny cast bubbles with wide-eyed goofiness, operatic emotions, and inexhaustible energy, and she choreographs just enough chaos into the swiftly moving action to convey how much fun it would be to have a play date with this high-spirited brood. Ages 3–8. (Mar.)