WALK RABBIT WALK

Invited to tea with Eagle, Rabbit prefers to walk: ""It's a lovely day."" The five other guests, each with different transportation, would gladly give him a lift, but he cheerfully turns them down: ""I like to look at the flowers and the butterflies as I walk along,"" he explains when Fox urges that ""It's perfect weather for ballooning."" In the end, after the others' vehicles fortuitously fail, Rabbit gets to Eagle's house first: ""Sometimes it's quicker to walk."" Reviews of modes of transportation are always popular, and McNaughton's fantastical illustrations of auto and helicopter are especially amusing; the wholesome theme and its ecological subtext add an aura of good sense to this cheery tale.