Snowy Valentine
Jasper, a long-eared rabbit, is worried about Valentine’s Day. He can’t seem to find the right gift for his wife. The search leads him to see if he can pick up ideas from the other residents of the valley. The porcupine family tries teaching him to knit a scarf like they’re making for Mother, but Jasper is a butterfingers. Miriam is giving her husband chocolate-covered flies, but she’s a frog. Teagan the fox wants to make Jasper part of a present to his wife: rabbit stew. After his escape, Jasper tells a cardinal that he fears he’ll never find a present, but the bird shows him how he’s already provided one. The big payoff—as he walked to various houses, Jasper’s footsteps have outlined a heart—is diminished by the fact that it will be hard for young ones to actually make out the shape of the heart. That’s too bad, because the rest of the story is quite sweet, and punctuated with bits of humor and suspense. Petersen, the creator of the Mouse Guard comics, makes his picture-book debut here. Preschool-Grade 1. --Ilene Cooper