Brave Squish Rabbit

PreS-Gr 1—In Squish Rabbit (Viking, 2011), the bunny's big problem was being little. Here, he is dealing with being afraid of things around him. He is frightened of the dark, of course, and of storms, but he is also afraid of chickens. In this perfect example of how a picture book relies on the art to help tell a fully formed story, exactly why he's scared of chickens is never stated. Instead, the art shows poor teeny tiny Squish Rabbit amid a forest of tall, moving chicken legs, and youngsters will immediately understand that he is fearful of being trampled. Squish Rabbit heads off to meet up with his friend Twitch, but she isn't where he looks. Worried, Squish Rabbit finally heads off to find her despite it being pitch dark and a raging storm, and he even thinks he sees chickens. Children will love how friendship trumps terror when the two reunite. The richly colored illustrations have strong patterns and textures while Squish Rabbit and Twitch are outlined in bold strokes of black ink. Consider pairing this charming book with Patricia Polacco's Thunder Cake (Philomel, 1990), Kevin Henkes's Sheila Rae, the Brave (Greenwillow, 1987), and Ed Emberley's Go Away, Big Green Monster! (Little, Brown, 1992).—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA