Rabbit Ears

Like all preschoolers, Hopscotch the rabbit is confident of his likes and dislikes, and "the thing he did not like the most was... having his ears washed." Then he discovers his cool older cousin Bobtail not only doesn't mind ear washing, he even does the job himself. "Big rabbits wash their own ears," Hopscotch realizes. And if he can prove he's big, Hopscotch further reasons (correctly, as it turns out), his parents might just let him spend the night at Bobtail's house. Newcomer Stewart and Rankin (The Handmade Alphabet ) give their hero a strong motive and make him a good model for nudging along children's autonomy, and the two illustrations depicting Hopscotch's revelation have a nice sense of comic drama, especially when Hopscotch first spots Bobtail's scrubbing out of the corner of his eye. Although the anthropomorphized domestic scenes seem rather tame, they are sunny, and the message of independence will be well received by newly independent youngsters. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)