A BIG DAY FOR LITTLE JACK

When the youngest of the Rabbit clan (Oh, Little Jack, 1992, etc.) is invited to his first party, the rest of the family helps him get ready. His mother reads him the invitation; his father buys him shiny new shoes and a spiffy new jacket; his sisters wrap the present; his brother helps Little Jack bathe. But Little Jack doesn't want to go to the party. He doesn't know any of the other guests and is afraid. So his grandfather suggests he take his toy rabbit, Bunnikin, along. Little Jack goes, clutching his stuffed friend tightly in his arms. At the party, however, he begins to have so much fun that he puts Bunnikin down. When he later makes his way back to Bunnikin, he finds a teddy bear sitting next to him. The teddy belongs to Rosy, another first-time party-goer. Little Jack and Rosy become great friends, and when Grandpa comes to pick up Little Jack, he doesn't want to leave. Only someone with a heart of stone wouldn't love the winsome Rabbit family and this charming, undidactic approach to fears of the unknown. (Fiction/Picture book. 3+)