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BETTY BUNNY WANTS EVERYTHING by Michael B. Kaplan

BETTY BUNNY WANTS EVERYTHING

From the Betty Bunny series

by Michael B. Kaplan & illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch

Pub Date: Feb. 2nd, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3408-1
Publisher: Dial Books

That boisterous Betty Bunny is back, and she's just as much of a handful as she was in her initial outing (Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake, 2011). This time Betty's focused on choosing a toy at the store, but with so many choices, what's a bunny to do?

Betty and her siblings are told that they can each select just one toy, and Betty at first chooses a little bunny doll. Then she quickly fills up an entire shopping cart with a towering stack of hilariously named toys, such as a Captain Gizmo Detective Kit. Her spree leads to a meltdown and a tearful trip home sans toy, but her understanding parents and siblings work with Betty to help her make an appropriate choice with her money on a return trip to the store. Kaplan's perfectly paced text captures a young child's intense emotions and limited reasoning, and the patient parents and slightly snide older brothers are real characters, as is the irrepressible Betty. Charming, large-scale illustrations in watercolor and ink are filled with details of toys and clothing, with understated colors and white backgrounds creating a fresh, contemporary air.

We don't know everything about Betty Bunny yet, and her new BFF, the bunny doll she names Little Betty, might turn out to be a handful, too. More, please. (Picture book. 3-6)