The Snow Rabbit

Garoche, reprising the same technique she used in Fox’s Garden, constructs and photographs dioramalike cut-paper scenes featuring fanciful characters and backgrounds, a process that gives the final images an eerie, real-yet-unreal quality. In this wordless story, two sisters with yellow hair gaze out the window of their cottage into a snow-covered forest. One emerges, shapes a white rabbit from the snow, and brings it inside to show to the other, who uses a wheelchair. The two venture out with the rabbit after it starts melting, and it comes to life and leaps to freedom. They pursue it, but the wheelchair gets stuck, and the girls are unable to free it. As they struggle, the rabbit grows larger, eventually carrying the girl back home. Ironically, the story draws its power from images of weakness. The girl in the wheelchair, the vulnerability of the two in the wood, and the delicate rabbit seem to play on a fascination with fear and fragility. Fans of Garoche’s previous book will be gratified, but while the story does feature a disabled character, she is far from independent. Ages 4–8. (Nov.)