cover image SLEEPING BUNNY

SLEEPING BUNNY

Emily Keller, , illus. by Pamela Silin-Palmer. . Random, $15.95 (40pp) ISBN 978-0-375-91541-3

Ornate illustrations enchant in this humorous fairy-tale adaptation. Silin-Palmer (Bunny and the Beast) once again casts long-legged rabbits dressed in billowing raiment in the starring roles; the gift-giving fairies are winged pigs, while a red-eyed, green-skinned rat takes the role of the excluded vengeful fairy, Mildew. Keller, the illustrator's daughter, alters the traditional plot only slightly. She throws in some groaners (everyone lives "hoppily ever after") but also supplies an imaginative and witty twist at the end. Most of the comic relief comes in the elegantly elaborate paintings, both from the incongruousness of Silin-Palmer's majestically bedecked animals and from the occasional joke (a coat of arms features crossed carrots and bears the inscription "carpe carotae"). The sustained whimsy of the artwork, from the sumptuous settings to the lush floral borders dotted with birds and butterflies, will please readers who like their fairy tales served up with all the trimmings. All ages. (Jan.)