WEE LITTLE BUNNY

Joining Wee Little Chick (2008) and Wee Little Lamb (2009), a fuzzy bunny “all brand new” exuberantly hops out to explore a grassy meadow until Mama’s call (“Story time!”) brings him hurtling back home for a cozy recap of the day’s small adventures. Butler crafts an idyllic, almost Stepfordian setting, all bright blue sky and soft green grasses, and adds to the animal cast a frisky chipmunk, an irritable porcupine and a watchful “chickadee-dee-dee” for bunny to encounter. To call this title and its companions “cute” is to vastly understate the case; it’s hard to read such lines as, “ ‘Chase me first!’ called the bunny, / and—giggle, giggle, giggle!— / he dashed through the grass,” without wondering if the formula’s fizzed over the top. But there’s no question author and illustrator know their audience: As with the other titles it’s just the ticket for urging recent graduates of toddlerdom to check out their world’s boundaries and then coaxing them back into the fold and mama’s lap. (Picture book. 2-4)