Bunny Dreams

McCarty’s bunnies float like small balloons, and this visit to their world drifts lightly from thought to thought. “What do bunnies know?” he writes. “Bunnies know to eat their vegetables—although they do not know their names.” The bunnies are shown gnawing at leafy lettuces and carrots, though their thoughts seem miles away. The farmer’s dog appears, a big, furry blimp who “only wants to play,” and the bunnies drift into underground burrows “where bunnies are safe.” They dream they are bees. They float amid fat pencils, crayons, and pieces of notebook paper. They hold up pieces of paper with their names written carefully on them: Brenda, Bobby, Brian. Writing is not presented as something they must learn, or should know how to do; it is the stuff of dreams, a treasure chest. Some picture books teach or moralize, others entertain, but McCarty (First Snow) does something different. He knows that making sense of the adult world is hard work, and he offers the very young a retreat that’s cozy, sleepy, and free of logic and structure. Ages 4–8. Agency: Gotham Group. (Jan.)