Cat & Bunny

PreS-K—Best friends since birth, Cat and Bunny do everything together, from eating lunch to riding bikes. They are inseparable until the day Quail asks to join in their special "Made-Up Game." Bunny cheerfully agrees, but Cat is reluctant. When more and more children join in, Cat slinks away. As she sits under a tree, hoping that Bunny will come and get her, she meets a new friend—a real kitten. As they are playing a new Made-Up Game with a ball of yarn, Giraffe asks to play, and so does another friend and another. Soon, all of the children—including Bunny—have gathered to play, and all strife is forgotten. Dainty pencil and watercolor illustrations on white backgrounds imbue this story with playfulness and light. Though it's not entirely clear why the children are depicted wearing animal suits à la Anne Geddes, their attire adds extra whimsy to the ordinary but entirely relatable tale about the ever-changing nature of friendships.—Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY