MOLLY, OLIVE, AND DEXTER PLAY HIDE-AND-SEEK

A game leads to misunderstanding for a woodland trio.

Molly the hare’s favorite game is hide-and-seek. She lives by an oak tree at the edge of a meadow with her friends Olive the owl and Dexter the fox. One day she initiates a game without first telling the others the rules, and mishaps ensue—first the pair “hide” by covering their eyes. After Molly clarifies that they need to conceal themselves from her, Olive and Dexter go to the other side of the tree. Molly finds them right away, and she complains that they need to do a better job hiding. Eventually, Olive and Dexter hide too well to be found. Distressed at the loss of her friends, Molly searches high and low to no avail, bemoaning her loneliness. When the pals are at last reunited, Olive and Dexter reassure Molly that they’ll never really leave her, and they all settle in for a nap. Rayner’s prose is illustrated with lightly abstracted mixed-media illustrations in a soft spring palette, and the animals are stylized but not anthropomorphized. The disagreements among friends are all gentle and easily sorted out, and this sleepily paced tale soon comes to a comforting close. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A lighthearted look at conflict resolution.