Peter Cottontail's Surprise - Hardcover

Kindergarten-Grade 2 This extremely slight tale tells of Peter's urgent wish to greet the spring after a winter in his underground warren. Failing to get any of the busy family to join him, he emerges and scampers about, spending some of his excess energy. Finally he returns home to a surprise birthday party and then to bed, all tuckered out. A bit of the writing is lyrical but most is standard Golden Book stuff. The pictures, however, are more compelling. Full-page double-framed tempera-like paintings face white pages with a large serifed typeface. The effect is one of nostalgia, referring more to the illustrated books of the 1920s than to modern picture books. The images are composed like stage sets, the animals naturalistically rendered but anthropomorphic in behavior. More attention is paid to surface decoration than anatomical structure, with the result that the thoughtfully composed scenes are cute rather than character-evoking. Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.