Knuffle Bunny Too

It was inevitable: since those fi8rst words triggered by her joyful reunion with Knuffle Bunny (Knuffle Bunny, BCCB 10/04), Trixie has learned to talk . . . and talk, and talk, and talk. She's eager to show her one-of-a-kind bunny to her classmates in preschool, until she sees Sonja has her own, nearly identical Knuffle Bunny. The girls argue and get their best friends taken away by the teacher, and there's a tragic mix-up upon their return at the end of the day. Unfortunately, while these girls can talk, they cant' tell time, and when they each discover the mistake in the wee hours of the morning, their beleaguered fathers have no choice but to venture out into the New York night to make the exchange. Willems manages pitch-perfect humor with his usual dexterity as he moves up and down the scales here-this story is as funny for grownups as it is for the slightly older elementary students to whom it seems best suited, and yet it remains sympathetic to listeners who are Trixie's age and have shared her predicament as well. The book mines humor from film noir conventions by casting a falsely sinister complexion over the mistaken identity and the nocturnal exchange, a tone that brings new significance to the black-and-white photographic backdrops behind the lively scrawled figures, while the epilogue brings viewers right back to bleary real life with the young and feckless. Yet another layered and effective work from Willems, this joyously continues his string of uncontested successes. KC BCCB