SILLY TAILS
by Jan Mark & illustrated by Tony Ross
A witty fable explaining why ``None of you has ever heard a vegetable talk'': The peaceable rabbits (dressed as Puritans) live on one side of a hedge, nibbling the amiably self-renewing grass, while on the other the gallant carrots show off for the benefit of ``fat and vulgar'' lettuces and ``dull and earthy'' turnips. Outraged at the rabbits' failure to notice them, the carrots begin to taunt, persisting with comments about ``silly'' ears, teeth, etc., until the rabbits, roused at last, slaughter them in a vengeful fury. ``Since that time no vegetable has been safe in the presence of a hostile rabbit...and vegetables do not speak at all. They dare not.'' Mark's vigorous, well-honed language reads splendidly aloud; Ross's comical, freely drawn figures—pious bunnies; debonair, devil-may-care carrots—are delightful caricatures, while his comical embellishments (grass roots chatting while an earthworm holds its ears) add substantially to the fun. An offbeat treasure. (Picture book. 4+)