The Bunnies Are Not in Their Beds

December 18, 2006
In Russo's (Come Back, Hannah!
) funny bedtime tale of escalating mischief, three rebellious bunnies try to outwit and outlast their parents. "Nighttime is here," coos the opening of the story. "Little bunnies are tucked in bed./ Good night, good night, sleep tight." But soon the sounds of "Click Clack, Click Clack" draw Mama and Daddy from their finally quiet living room to their offsprings' bedroom ("Sounds like the bunnies are not in their beds"). There they discover the long-eared little ones busily setting up their model trains. "No more tracks on the floor./ .../ Good night,/ good night,/ sleep tight," say the parent bunnies firmly. But the message doesn't sink in. Time and again, the grown-ups hear noises, climb the stairs and find their children engaged in ever-more elaborate activities; by the time the final admonition is given (the litany of forbidden behavior now takes up an entire page) the bunnies have assembled both a toy railroad and racetrack, concocted a raucous Wild West game, and even transformed themselves into a mini-marching band, complete with uniforms ("Boom, boom, boom!
/ Honk, squonk, honk!
/ Clash, clash, smash!
"). Readers will probably respond with a fit of giggles—not only because the misbehavior comically spirals out of control, but also because Russo's crisply colored and calmly rendered vignettes make such an effective comic foil. Ages 3-7.

December 1, 2006
K-Gr 2-Three bunny siblings find much better things to do than go to sleep. Each time their parents look in on them, they are playing with cars or trains or pretending to be cowboys and even a marching band. Despite numerous warnings, the noisy little creatures just cannot stay in their beds. Finally the house is quiet, but when the youngsters creep down the hall and discover their parents fast asleep, they plan to play all night long. But soon a new noise is heard, the snoring of bunnies who have played themselves to sleep. A simple pattern moves this tale along. Mama and Daddy are trying to wind down for the evening with a bit of reading and some tea and carrot cake, but loud sounds from the bedroom send them repeatedly upstairs to admonish their children and put them back in bed. The colorful, folksy gouache illustrations bring real personality to the text with expressions of exasperation, amusement, and joy. The text is placed in and around the art and has a large, bold font to emphasize the raucous sounds of the little rabbits. Despite the winning illustrations, the tale seems a bit stale and overly long."Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.