COWBOY BUNNIES

Cowboy and cowgirl wannabes—and there are many—will have their boots and ropes ready for singing the praises of cowboy bunnies, romping and riding on toy ponies and cattle: ``Cowboy bunnies/Wake up early/Ride their ponies/Hurly burly.'' All the catchy wishful thinking is paired with gouache paintings done on panels of wood, arranged vertically in various sizes and shapes to imitate murals on the slats of a fence, or placed horizontally across the spread to form a landscape of bathing bunnies. A square of wood becomes a paned window dotted with stars; the yolk of a fried egg doubles as the sun in textured, sunny-side up paintings. Joyous bunnies in bandannas mend fences, jump gullies, and fix bridges, working up a hearty appetite for steak and flapjacks, and running out of steam just in time to kiss their mamas goodnight. Few readers will be able to resist the impulse to bolt through these pages again. (Picture book. 2-5)