Veggie Soup

Too many cooks spoil the veggie soup in this breezy picture book about food and friends. Miss Bun the rabbit is a prize- winning cook, having mastered all the recipes in her Great Nana's cookbook. But after so much time relying on Great Nana's careful methods, Miss Bun decides she'd like to wing it, whipping up ""something tasty, something original, something all my own."" She invites her pals over for a repast of veggie soup la Miss Bun. However, each guest feels compelled to supply the hostess with their own favorite soup ingredient, from wiggly worms to tangy tunas. Could her friends' suggestions kick the soup up a notch? Miss Bun, thinking her soup ""blaaaa,"" adds the questionable items to the pot. The foul-tasting result convinces the bunny chef that Great Nana does indeed know best. Donohue's (Big and Little on the Farm) structure is built on repetition and cumulative-tale elements that will be familiar to many young readers, but her language could use a little spicing up. Her cut-paper collages are a smorgasbord of rumpled texture and bright color; shapes are layered and partially raised throughout, creating something of a 3-D effect. The soup recipe appears on the final page. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)