All Through My Town

It’s a typical day out for a young bunny and his mummy as they go about their happy business, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of a lively town: Shopping, sacking, / sorting, stacking— / rows so nice and neat. / School bells ringing. / Reading, singing, / friends to meet and greet. Each full-page spread is a color-saturated cityscape depicting the boisterous activity of many diverse, anthropomorphized urbanites as they eat at a diner, catch a train, visit the post office, return library books, bring flowers to the hospital, and ride home on the bus. The words are fun and bouncy, while the paintings offer large-scale details to pore over. Classic and contemporary feeling, this echoes both Golden Books and Richard Scarry titles, and, as the rabbit family members run their errands, they pass everything from jump-roping giraffes to street-sweeping aardvarks and from food kiosks to cozy living rooms. The scenes could be interpreted as set anywhere from Manhattan to Meadow Lakes, Alaska, thereby making this relatable to a wide range of youngsters. Preschool-Kindergarten. --Andrew Medlar