RABBIT & SQUIRREL

“Stay away from my garden—or else!” Her crunchiest carrots, his sweetest sweet peas.... Neighbors Rabbit and Squirrel blame each other for pillaging their respective, carefully kept gardens. Actually, as Magoon makes clear in his digitally created, deceptively gooney cartoons, the culprit is a human gardener who comes back later to chase the still-quarreling animals out of what she regards as her garden and off into the dark woods. “One of these days,” readers are assured, “they’ll grow tired of fighting. And then, hopefully, they’ll learn to grow something new.” Along with the idea that wars can be touched off by jumping to conclusions or other mistakes, the lack of a pat resolution to the hostilities makes this a good discussion-starter—and also sets it apart from the general run of simplistic peace-mongering titles. (Picture book. 6-8)