Rabbits Good News CL

Sweetness and simplicity mark Bornstein's (The Dancing Man; Little Gorilla) tale of an inquisitive bunny who rises from her ``warm dark hole in the ground'' to trace the origin of a mysterious ``soft green sound.'' Gently scumbled pastels saturate each spread with a rainbow of colors, with the blue tones of predawn giving way to the pink of sunrise and the vibrant yellow and orange of midday. While limiting the images along Rabbit's quest (three mushrooms against a yellow-green meadow, a single bee half hidden in a vivid blossom), Bornstein deftly suggests sweeping vistas. She creates a kid-pleasing tone of suspense, too, as Rabbit gradually approaches her elusive goal (``She could almost hear the words now''). Particularly striking is the spread on which she is (literally) enlightened: her beaming countenance, filling the right-hand page, almost matches the radiance of a blazing sun, opposite. This good news embraces not only Rabbit, but readers too. Ages 3-6. (Feb.)