Surprise! Surprise!

A race over the meadow's stone wall ends with a splashy finish for Rabbit and his playmates.

Gyo Fujikawa (1908-1999) made a career in the advertising world and also enjoyed a lengthy stint at the Walt Disney Studios where she designed the large book version of Fantasia. In 1957, she illustrated her first picture book, A Child's Garden of Verses. Many others followed, some of which she also wrote. Babies, published in 1963, stands as a landmark: it was the first children's book to depict infants of all races and nations sharing growing experiences. Fujikawa's books have been translated into 17 languages and are read in more than 22 countries.