BUNNY DAY

A day in the life of Walton’s bunny family helps young readers grasp the concept of time. From daybreak to twilight, Mother and Father Rabbit faithfully announce the hour as they hustle their offspring from one activity to another. The suitably bouncy verses convey both the time and activity to readers in rhyming couplets. Breakfast, preparing for the day, and chores comprise the morning hours—after that, it’s lunch and playtime. A perky tempo keeps reader’s interest engaged: “ ‘Ready, set? Now bunnies run!’ / Mother Rabbit says at one. / ‘Race and chase and bounce a bit. / That will keep my bunnies fit.’ ” Oversized, two-paged, full-bleed illustrations provide continuity, tying the segments of the tale together. Meticulously drawn pictures depict the bunnies busily engaged in familiar activities, making crafts in the afternoon hours, setting the dinner table, and snuggling in for a bedtime tale at day’s end. A clock indicating the appropriate time is neatly woven into each illustration, challenging readers to seek and find each timepiece in the spreads. However, both the placement of the clocks and the clarity on the clock faces in several pictures makes this tale more appropriate for exploring the notion of time rather than providing instruction on how to tell time. Altogether, a pleasing addition to Walton’s (So Many Bunnies, 1998, etc.) bunny family series. (Picture book. 3-5)