Why So Sad, Brown Rabbit?

A male brown rabbit just cannot seem to shake the three little ducklings who think he is their mother, but it really would not be all that bad if they would just stop calling him "Mama."

PreSchool-Grade 1?Brown Rabbit is depressed about his advancing age and declining agility. Gray Mouse suggests he have a family so he can teach games he can no longer play. While searching for a wife, he happens upon three abandoned duck eggs. Unable to locate Mama Duck, he becomes the ducklings' Papa; he then shows them how to hop, skip, jump, etc.?the very things he was too old to do in the beginning of the story. The narration is pedantic and the story itself too long for the audience who would most enjoy this type of animal fantasy. Line-and-wash illustrations are simplistic and uninspiring. This mediocre offering won't be missed.?Heide Piehler, Shorewood Public Library, WI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Artist Kelly makes an assured debut with this British import featuring a bachelor bunny who longs for a family and inadvertently gets his wish. Brown Rabbit is droopy-eared over his plight: he must sit alone on the sidelines while the animal families enjoy their springtime frolic. After a brief, fruitless search for a wife, the rabbit discovers a trio of just-hatched ducklings. A poll of farmyard inhabitants fails to turn up the ducklings' mother: "What am I going to do?" Brown Rabbit asks his charges. "You're all alone like me." But when the orphans snuggle close, the rabbit's nurturing instincts are awakened; he soon embraces his role as a paterfamilias with gusto. With an economical but warm text, Cain (Look Out for the Big, Bad Fish?) keeps the story moving. She effectively conveys Brown Rabbit as a good-hearted if slightly prim gentleman (he says "Oh dear!" when perplexed and refers to his ducklings as "little fellows"). Combining a strong graphic sensibility with a confident ink line, Kelly's illustrations bubble with a sly wit and energy; the clean, almost decorative look of the characters and compositions is tempered with subtly textured colors of downy yellow, chestnut brown and cornflower blue. Here is an upbeat tale of a hare who makes a proud papa to a nontraditional family. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Cain's story of imprinting gone wrong opens with Brown Rabbit in self-pitying mode: ``I wish I could hop, skip, and jump, too, but I'm too old to play games,'' he moans. Gray Mouse counsels him to get a family, and off troops Brown Rabbit to find a mate. When he settles in for a nap on a pile of hay, he accidentally hatches three eggs sequestered there. ``Mama!'' the new ducklings quack. Brown Rabbit's efforts to find their mother fail; the ducks flew south the day before. To cheer up the sad ducklings, alone in the world, just as he is, Brown Rabbit teaches them to hop, skip, and jump--and his family is born. It is curious, and unexplored, why the other barnyard animals are so diffident, but the message of shared responsibility is sweetly understated, while the tender, benignly baffled characters of Kelly's watercolor illustrations are quite effective. (Picture book. 3-7) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 3^-6. Eager to have little ones so he can teach them rabbit games, Brown Rabbit sets out in search of a wife. But after hopping across fields, through woods, and over hills, he is no closer to having the family he wants. While resting on a pile of hay, he feels some odd movements and discovers three duck eggs underneath him. When the ducklings hatch, they naturally mistake him for their mother, and when an exhaustive search fails to produce the real mom, Brown Rabbit happily fills the role. Preschoolers will probably be the best audience for this book. They will enjoy what happens next--something school-age children will probably find too easy. Still, this heartwarming story, decorated with charming pictures that have great child appeal, earns a place in the elementary school library. Lauren Peterson