THE MOST TIMID IN THE LAND

Beginning with ``The Bunnies are a feeble folk/Whose weakness is their strength./To shun a gun a Bun will run/To almost any length,'' a popular turn-of-the-century nonsense poet (1863-1935) spins a mock heroic tale about a contest for the hand of the Princess Bunita, reversing conventions at every turn (``Only the faint-hearted/Are deserving of the fair''). Having practiced such useful skills as fainting at their own shadows, the contestants take off, not to return until they have circled the globe: the one who runs away fastest will return first, and thus be victorious. The versifying is as adept and witty as the nonsensical story (this isn't a fable about peace but figuring out why could lighten up an earnest discussion). In colorful double spreads, Long clothes the crowds of bunnies in medieval splendor and gives them amusingly appropriate expressions— dogged, silly, anxious, etc. As much fun as a barrel of bunnies. (Poetry/Picture book. 4-10)