THE CUTEST BRAVE LITTLE BUNNY

Even the cutest bunny contains multitudes.

“One lovely spring day, a fluffle of bunnies was born.” All the farmyard inhabitants go to see them, and each marvels at how cute the seven baby bunnies are. The smallest of the bunny siblings disagrees. “I’m not cute,” she insists. After the babies grow a bit, the littlest wants a better view of the barnyard, so she decides to climb a sheep. “Be careful, little cutie,” says the sheep. “You will fall!” “I’m NOT cute!” replies Little Bunny. “I’m BRAVE!” Little Bunny falls several times but eventually makes it to the top. When a goat calls her cute for pushing a bucket of greens, she again denies it: “I’m NOT cute! I’m HELPFUL!” When she meets a small yellow chick, she preemptively shouts out that she isn’t cute. Little Chick schools Little Bunny on accepting compliments and knowing one’s strengths. Though the idea that we are more than our appearances is an important one, it’s slightly undercut when Little Chick encourages Little Bunny to be less “mean” when asking the other animals to acknowledge her other strengths. And it’s only Little Bunny who’s told she needs to make a change; the other barnyard residents never realize the error of their ways. Still, the animals in the digitally created yet painterly illustrations are all cute, truth be told, and many little listeners will identify with Little Bunny’s frustration.

A fine, fresh farmyard fable.