QUIET BUNNY'S MANY COLORS

This is the second offering in a new series about the titular rabbit, following a previous exploration of animal sounds (Quiet Bunny, 2009). In this effort, Quiet Bunny finds out about the colors of the springtime and decides he doesn’t want to be a plain brown-and-white rabbit any longer. He tries to turn himself yellow with honey and flower blossoms, green with lily pads, blue with blueberries and so on. A wise owl intervenes and points out that each animal has its individual color and that is what makes the forest beautiful. “We are all different colors, and we are all beautiful!” It's the old “be yourself” theme that has been told so many times and in so many ways, and this version really doesn’t add anything new to the canon. The stereotypically wise owl solves the existential dilemma with a simple statement rather than allowing Quiet Bunny to come to the conclusion on his own, and the exploration is never anything more than superficial. McCue’s illustrations combine undeniably cute and cuddly animals with lovely flowers, but it’s all a greeting-card prettiness that comes off as saccharine. But since she is a prolific artist with many fans, Quiet Bunny will probably quietly move on to the next entry in his series. (Picture book. 3-5)