WITH YOU ALWAYS, LITTLE MONDAY

Throughout the world, there exist many legends to account for the appearance of the Rabbit in the Moon (a counterpart of the Man in the Moon). In this Are You My Mother–style explanation, Little Monday, a foundling bunny in a blue coat, spends an exhausting day visiting each of the animals in the forest in search of a likely mommy, but none of them seems quite right. “ ‘Never mind,’ said Little Monday.” Roused from slumber by an unknown force, Little Monday sees, in the big bright moon, a rabbit—smiling at him, reassuring him, sending a moonbeam caress. While the story may not seem much of a surprise, Côté’s mixed-media work is a wonder. Deceptively simple on its surface, it is expression-filled and elegant in light and line. Analogous hues of blue and green and honeyed tones of gold and brown create a sense of serenity that lets the reader know that all will end well, and her characters’ body language—the turn of a head, the tilt of a chin, the cast of a crayon-dot eye—is eloquent (though some of bunny’s poses are positively Peter-ish). Sweetly sentimental. (author note) (Picture book. 2-6)