Bunny & Tree

Imaginative power and constant movement make this wordless debut picture book from artist Zsako a visual tour de force. After a wolf chases a band of scattering bunnies, one white rabbit with colorful ears is pursued as far as a tree, which responds by transmogrifying—its leafy silhouette duplicating the predator’s greedy snarl. Stunned and grateful when the wolf turns tail and runs, the bunny asks the tree for help finding its fellow rabbits. (The two communicate via droll, blackboard-style illustrated thought bubbles.) The bunny excavates the tree’s root system and packs it into a red cart, and the duo set off on an epic journey. Along the way, the tree obligingly remakes itself into new forms of transportation that suit the terrain—a train, a boat, an airplane—and a glad bunny reunion ushers in further discovery and transformation. Atmospheric backdrops create the sense of passing time as the journey hurtles onward. The page-turning tale mixes classic storytelling tropes—the ability to transform, a quest for lost loved ones, trees’ majesty—into a fanciful exploration of a world in which love leads to growth, and growth, in turn, to deeper love. Ages 7–up. (May)