EASTER BUNNY BLUES
by Carol Wallace & illustrated by Steve Bjorkman
A pallid Easter tale posits a Bunny whose flu-triggered blues have got him so down he can’t perform, so the local animals, led by Petey the pup, pitch in to help. Four short chapters tell the story, with Old Jack providing the necessary exposition to both Petey and readers: Just a “plain old rabbit most of the year...[r]ight before Easter he gets his superpowers and creates spring magic.” Because Petey’s beloved Belle and “[a]lmost all children love the Easter Bunny” (stated with a bland assumption of cultural hegemony), the critters decide to come to the rescue. To say this tale has loose threads is a wild understatement. What is the magic that gives the Easter Bunny his “superpowers” every spring? And why can’t those superpowers overcome the flu? Isn’t it perilous to rest the whole holiday on the shoulders of one evidently frail rabbit? The goodwill manifest by the helping animals banishes the Bunny’s blues, thank goodness, so Easter will happen after all. What a surprise. Buy an extra copy of The Bunny Who Found Easter instead. (Early reader. 6-9)