A STARLIT SOMERSAULT DOWNHILL
by Nancy Willard & illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
In gossamer lyric verse, delicate as early snow, a whimsical tale of a reluctant rabbit who's persuaded to join his friend the bear in a long, safe winter sleep, only to find himself tossing and turning alone: " 'O prudent friend! O sleeping stone!' / The rabbit poked his silent back. / 'How I should love a little snack, / a tuft of grass, a bunch of bark, / a star to tame the lonely dark' "—and he escapes to dance "in starlit somersaults downhill," through the snow.
Pinkney's watercolors are lusciously tactile, the monumental, somnolent bear wedged into generous double spreads while his ever-alert friend springs from clover to stream and almost off the page on a marvelous final foldout spread.
Delectable
. (Picture book. 4+)