Liplap's Wish

This pair's second collaboration-a quieter tale than their spirited Fire Race-focuses on Liplap, a winsome young rabbit who shapes a ``snowbunny'' after the winter's first snowfall. He wishes that Grandma, who ``hadn't lived to see the snow this year,'' were here to help him make the creature's face. That night Liplap is sad, until his mother shares a story that ``Grandma used to tell''-when the First Rabbits died, they became stars in the sky, which come out at night to ``remind us that our loved ones shine forever in our hearts.'' When his mother points out one bright star, the two decide that the star could be Grandma. London's impressively visual narrative (``The setting sun was pulling rose and yellow scarves across the sky'') is given even greater dimension by Long's exquisitely detailed art. Words and pictures create an affecting work that will be especially meaningful to children who have lost a loved one. Ages 3-8. (Oct.)