You're a Hero, Daley B.!

Daley B's many questions about his identity and how he should live his life are answered when Jazzy D pays a visit to the woodland.

PreSchool-Grade 1 --Daley B. doesn't know what sort of animal he is. Furthermore, he can't figure out why he has such big feet. When Jazzy D., a weasel, comes along, she quickly identifies Daley as a rabbit and a part of her daily diet. Luckily, Daley discovers a use for his huge feet and sends Jazzy sailing. Blake's terse text is well suited to the telling but the tale itself, while adequate, is unexceptional. Scheffler's simple cartoon illustrations add expressive humor to a predictable plot. Children may find the silly rabbit's use of his feet as waterskis and later as a rain shelter amusing, but most libraries can skip this mediocre story. --Lori A. Janick, Parkwood Elementary School, Pasadena, TX
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This comic debut stars an utterly endearing animal with long ears, a U-shaped nose, brown fur and big hind feet. His name is Daley B., and he is obviously a rabbit--though this fact somehow eludes him. He imagines himself as a porcupine, as a bat in a cave and even as a bird poised to devour a gooey worm. Finally, he decides to behave like a squirrel, and it isn't until he's about to become dinner for a weasel--which he mistakenly identifies as a duck-billed platypus--that he catches on to his true identity. With its three distinguishing voices--a narrator's, Daley B.'s and the sinister weasel's--Blake's lighthearted tale begs to be read aloud. Scheffler's playful illustrations of walleyed creatures from a koala bear to birds to bugs with human faces introduce various members of the animal kingdom to emphasize drolly how mixed up this dumb bunny really is. Both kids and their parents will laugh out loud at the book's closing line--a real vaudeville-style zinger. Together, the farcical story and expressive cartoons acquaint readers with a stubbornly nonplussed hero who needs a good pair of glasses or, at the very least, a mirror. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.