PEANUT BUTTER AND DONNER

In Rosenblum’s picture book debut, two very different rescue animals adjust to each other and become firm friends.

Donner the parakeet and Peanut Butter the rabbit have both been rescued from privation in the wild and now live with a human family (not depicted). Donner loves to sing, but his happy chirping only scares poor Peanut Butter, who, due to his sensitive hearing, is nervous and easily disturbed. Once Donner understands this, he sings more softly, and the two become inseparable companions. Rosenblum narrates Donner and Peanut Butter’s story using ABCB rhyming quatrains, presented against plain, pastel green backdrops. While the animals’ odd-couple relationship is very endearing (and will doubtlessly provide readers with food for thought), the rhyme and meter result in some awkwardness (“But when he felt the place was safe, / on his side he’d gently flop. / And quietly they would watch him / as his ear would softly drop”); the text might have worked better rendered in unadorned prose. Illustrator Aubree Rosenblum brings Donner and Peanut Butter to life through simple and soft, watery and wavery digital illustrations. While these occasionally include background details—a gas station pump, a castle, a duck in a pond—for the most part they show just the two animal friends in various states of interaction. Remarkably, the minimally rendered bustling blue budgerigar and saggy, borderline amorphous bunny evince sufficient personality to carry the story.

A sweet tale of companionship.