Philippa Leathers
One sunny morning, Little Rabbit is startled to discover there is a large, black rabbit looming behind him. Little Rabbit shrieks at him to go away, but his aggressor only stands dark and silent, unmoving. Poor Rabbit tries a multitude of tricks, hiding behind a large tree and swimming across the river, but that scary black rabbit is always just a step behind.
Little Rabbit is so panicked, that he unthinkingly runs straight into the deep, dark woods, which he would ordinarily be ultra careful to avoid. (So cute that the woods are marked with a large wooden entrance sign: "Welcome to the deep, dark wood.") True to their name, the woods are deep and dark .... but at least there's no sign of that big black bunny.
Just as Little Rabbit takes a seat on a tree stump and breathes a sigh of relief, he notices two slanted eyes peering at him out of the darkness. These eyes belong to someone much more threatening than the character who had been following him all day ... the Wolf! Rabbit panics and runs, with Wolf hot on his heels. But just as quickly as he appeared, Wolf disappears. Because there, standing behind Little Rabbit, in the bright sunshine, is the Black Rabbit.
I love all the little details of Philippa Leathers' little neurotic bunny! His stubby legs in proportion to those long ears,the high spots of color on his cheeks and those big eyes with the worried look. From the illustrations, even young readers will realize right away why the Black Rabbit is there. Super adorable book!
Review copy provided by Candlewick Press.
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