DO RABBITS HAVE CHRISTMAS?

A family of rabbits help themselves to carrots from an outdoor Christmas tree on the attractive cover of this collection of 15 previously published poems about winter and Christmas by the late poet. The appealing rabbits are shown building a snow rabbit on the title page and then reappearing in the illustration for three poems. Fox-Davies includes mice, birds and pets in the art for the remaining poems; her illustrations in watercolor and pencil are sweet and traditional, set on a snowy farm with a red farmhouse and cheery children bundled up against the cold. The rhyming poems speak of watching the arrival of winter and Christmas, experiencing frosty windows and snowstorms and preparing for the holiday. One quibble is an unnecessary introductory note to readers from poet Karla Kuskin that is oddly placed at the beginning of the volume. The note and the facing illustration of children building an igloo disrupt the flow of the rabbit illustrations from cover to title page to the first poem. Still, this is a treat for Christmas or any winter reading. (Picture book/poetry. 4-7)