Big Bad Bunny
*Starred Review* In a bunny-themed picture book that will prove useful year-round, various elements work together to amplify suspense about a rampaging rabbit: “Big Bad Bunny has long sharp claws. Scritch! Scritch! Scritch!” Shifting from a bold, dramatic typeface to a traditional font, the narrative notes that “in the Mouse House, everything is quiet”; a delicate inset image shows oblivious Mama Mouse tucking in her brood. Suddenly she discovers that Baby Boo-Boo has disappeared. Her desperate search ultimately reveals that mouse and bunny are one and the same, paving the way to tender good-nights. Readers who know Billingsley’s middle-grade fantasies will recognize her delight in language in her first picture book, which features plenty of repetition and onomatopoeia. Karas deftly keeps the monster’s true identity under wraps until the right moment, and his mostly pastel palette and scribbly, nearly silly depictions will raise as many goose pimples as young children can bear. Characters who lose themselves in pretend play appear in many picture books, but this stellar read-aloud offers some fresh new tricks. Preschool-Grade 2. --Jennifer Mattson