MY VERY OWN SPACE

After finally succeeding in getting some privacy for reading, a little rabbit learns about balancing isolation and socialization.

Although the cinnamon-brown bunny in a red turtleneck sweater is admirably gender-neutral throughout the text, the book cover ascribes it a male pronoun and the name Jack. Regardless, the uncomplicated text and the humorous art combine to create a story appealing to all. The layout consists of pure white, double-page spreads, filled with brightly contrasting rabbits. In the first spread, 21 comical, anthropomorphic rabbits do such things as dance ballet, leap, play musical instruments, and kick a soccer ball. The red-sweatered bunny is trying to read a book, the slyly titled Space Bunny. Large print announces the bunny’s cross plaint over the general mayhem: “SHUSH! I want to look at my book!” Taking matters in paw, the bunny uses a red marker to draw a circle for privacy, eventually leading to two particularly engaging sequences of art: one documenting the physical process of settling in to read a book and one showing the bunny’s imagination taking off with space creatures. A smaller, beige rabbit in a blue dress—possibly the protagonist’s little sibling—crosses the line at a perfect time: the reader is feeling more than ready to leave solitary confinement and rejoin the other rabbits.

A sweetly balanced affirmation of the child’s right to space.