Artist Kelly makes an assured debut with this British import featuring a bachelor bunny who longs for a family and inadvertently gets his wish. Brown Rabbit is droopy-eared over his plight: he must sit alone on the sidelines while the animal families enjoy their springtime frolic. After a brief, fruitless search for a wife, the rabbit discovers a trio of just-hatched ducklings. A poll of farmyard inhabitants fails to turn up the ducklings' mother: "What am I going to do?" Brown Rabbit asks his charges. "You're all alone like me." But when the orphans snuggle close, the rabbit's nurturing instincts are awakened; he soon embraces his role as a paterfamilias with gusto. With an economical but warm text, Cain (Look Out for the Big, Bad Fish?) keeps the story moving. She effectively conveys Brown Rabbit as a good-hearted if slightly prim gentleman (he says "Oh dear!" when perplexed and refers to his ducklings as "little fellows"). Combining a strong graphic sensibility with a confident ink line, Kelly's illustrations bubble with a sly wit and energy; the clean, almost decorative look of the characters and compositions is tempered with subtly textured colors of downy yellow, chestnut brown and cornflower blue. Here is an upbeat tale of a hare who makes a proud papa to a nontraditional family. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1?Brown Rabbit is depressed about his advancing age and declining agility. Gray Mouse suggests he have a family so he can teach games he can no longer play. While searching for a wife, he happens upon three abandoned duck eggs. Unable to locate Mama Duck, he becomes the ducklings' Papa; he then shows them how to hop, skip, jump, etc.?the very things he was too old to do in the beginning of the story. The narration is pedantic and the story itself too long for the audience who would most enjoy this type of animal fantasy. Line-and-wash illustrations are simplistic and uninspiring. This mediocre offering won't be missed.?Heide Piehler, Shorewood Public Library, WI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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