Happy Dreams, Little Bunny

PreS-Gr 1–One night, sleepless Little Bunny pitter-patters down the dark stairs, clutching a beloved stuffed animal, Elephant. Little Bunny finds Mommy illuminated by the glow of her computer, and begins asking questions about growing up. Mommy validates the big worries of her small child, saying, “I can see why your thoughts are keeping you up.” The mother suggests that Little Bunny instead think about dreaming, and a journey begins that combines the adventure of Where the Wild Things Are and the tenderness of Goodnight Moon. With Elephant, Little Bunny hitches a ride on a bumblebee over a late afternoon field of purple flowers, sprouts wings, soars into the air over the sea, and ventures to the moon and back. Little Bunny is depicted as gender-neutral in a long-sleeve yellow onesie, and an identifying pronoun is never used. Hong’s text is dialogue only, which feels a little limiting compared to the soft, surrealist whimsy of her pastel, pencil, crayon, and graphite illustrations.