Tat Rabbit's Treasure

Tat Rabbit and Tig the Pig find a mysterious box full of masks and costumes for dressing up, in an imaginative tale replete with fascinating details from the world of toys, pictured in full-color paintings.

PreSchool-Grade 1-A stuffed rabbit and pig discover a trunk. Tat Rabbit believes it contains treasure, while Tig fears it holds monsters. Tat stands on his friend's back, pries open the top, and falls in. When Tig tries to rescue him with a toy crane, out comes a monster, which turns out to be Tat in disguise. The depiction of the monster could be frightening for young children as it looks real and demonic and possesses no reasuring characteristics. Tat, Tig, and other toys then enjoy the assortment of costumes. The illustrations are far better than the spare tale, which is told largely in dialogue. The acrylic paintings are both beautifully rendered and imaginative. In addition to the main characters, the illustrations picture a growing assortment of large and tiny toys and people who advance on the chest in hot air balloons, airplanes, pirate ships, and other vehicles and share the treasure when it is revealed. While this book has visual appeal, it looks better than it reads.
Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Toys come to life in this visually stylish story of two stuffed animals who discover a locked chest. Tat Rabbit feels certain that the box contains treasure, while Tig, a pig with an Eeyore-like posture and attitude, maintains that monsters are locked within. As they debate the box's contents, tiny toys of various scale (but mostly minuscule) float into the dreamy, undefined landscape, their shadows supplying the only clue that they're grounded. Set against a buff-colored backdrop, the subjects of Kerins's golden-hued acrylics have an old-fashioned quality, protected from sentimentality by their almost photographic presentation. The cinematic perspective proves particularly effective when Tig rescues Tat after he falls into the box. As the lid opens, a truly horrific monster springs forth. After giving the toys a good scare, the monster "fell in a tangle on the floor. His mask dropped off." "I was only teasing," announces Tat, who makes amends by inviting Tig and the other toys to rummage through the "splendiferous" treasure. The concluding spread (containing the only white background in the book) shows all the toys enjoying a surfeit of childhood riches--costumes, fossils, feathers, buttons, acorns, charms and the like. Although some may find the British author/artist's American debut unsettling or a bit outre, readers with quirkier tastes will be attracted to its crisp, spare text and distinctly European flavor. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 4-7. A quite ordinary story is made extraordinary by its hyperrealistic illustrations. Tat, a toy rabbit, and Tig, a toy pig, (the firm and leathery kind rather than the soft and cuddly variety) speculate on the contents of a large, brass-bound trunk. Tat insists there is treasure within; Tig suspects monsters. Tat falls in, and when Tig attempts a rescue, a gruesome and voracious monster emerges. Of course, it is only Tat in disguise, and the chest is indeed filled with delightful curiosities. The action is played out in an undetermined ecru-colored space, where surface is only suggested by muddy blue shadows. An unusual palette of antique golds, rusty reds, and olive greens heightens the sense of menace. Although the subject and syntax are accessible to preschoolers, more sensitive children may find the story slightly intense. Elizabeth Bush