The Bunny Ballet

In this fanciful work from previous collaborators Ericson and MacKay (Too Early), two siblings portrayed with pale skin find themselves in a radiant forest where a troupe of rabbits invites them to a “grand dance hall.” Seating themselves among a bunny audience decked out in colorful finery, the children raptly regard the ballet performers, dressed in doublets and breeches or flowing skirts: “Wondrous, whirling/ cottontails./ Across the stage/ they soar, they sail!” Intermission offers garden-fodder refreshments—“Lettuce Linzer?/ Carrot Cordial? ’Falfa Fizzer?”—followed by a second act, even more elaborate than the first, that culminates in an ecstatic grand finale featuring the entire long-eared corps de ballet filling the stage. Lighted and photographed images of painted and layered illustrations exude all the romanticism of classical ballet via animalian movements depicted with vivid grace. As the story’s spell winds down into what seems like a fleeting wisp of memory (“By morning, all may/ blur with slumber./ Will you be left with/ only wonder?”), it remains clear that the effervescent work’s love of dance is the real thing. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Sara Crowe, Sara Crowe Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary. (Nov.)