I almost adopted a bunny today.

I’m still thinking about it, in fact, but then I think about cleaning up all those little bunny poop-balls, and how the bunny would no doubt poop on the floor in the house from time to time, and how the toddler would probably think that poop-balls are really cool to squish between her fingers, and…yeah. Also, I had two bunnies in my sweet, bucolic childhood, and both were put to rest, shall we say, by neighboring dogs. So. For now, at least, we’ll get our bunny love in the form of books. And if you’ve cruised the children’s shelves lately, you’ll know that there is no shortage of books featuring bunnies. I considered doing a post rounding up 8 or 10 of my favorites, even. For now, just the most recent adorableness, which falls snuggly into the category of THE CUTE:

Bunny Days, by Tao Nyeu, was brought to Thalia by—who else?—the Eastah Bunny. Bok bok. And I’m sorry, but I had a cute overload moment of meltiness tonight as she sat on the floor paging through it and said, in her toddler voice (which is, you understand, is THE MOST ABSOLUTEST CUTEST THING EVER), “Muddy bunnies!”

I’m just in love with the style of this book’s illustration—clean lines, supersimple white bunnies with cotton ball tails and pin dot eyes, and lovely limited color palettes for each of the three stories contained within (”Muddy Bunnies,” “Dusty Bunnies,” and “Bunny Tails”). And the stories tickle me too: In each, there’s a mishap involving industrious Mr. and Mrs. Goat: he splashes mud on our happy bunny friends while they’re at play; she vacuums them up from their underground dens as she’s vacuuming (yes) the meadow; he snips off their tails as he’s pruning the hedge they’re playing hide-and-seek in. Each time, the goats run to Bear to rescue the day, and Bear does so with aplomb—enlisting his washing machine, giant fan (WHIRRR!!!!), and sewing machine, respectively. Bear, it seems, is quite handy with the small appliances and such. OK, so this book would be fun enough if it just featured bunny-and-goat mishaps, but we have small appliances hanging out in the meadow with a scarf-wearing, tea-sipping, scarf-knitting Bear. (Who, like, is just sitting there knitting, in the meadow, right next to…his washing machine.) This is the kind of silliness and fancifulness that the littlest reader doesn’t even question; she just knows it’s fun. And an older kid or adult gets the humor of the incongruity and thinks it’s fun too. Score! And bonus: The dust jacket unfolds to a gorgeous, full-color poster of the entire cast. (Here we learn that Bear can also pick a mean banjo.)

So you can imagine my surprise—and amusement—when I came across this stiff, thumbs-down review from School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 1—The bear from Nyeu’s Wonder Bear (Dial, 2008) returns in three simple stories. In each tale, six white bunnies are lounging around when Mr. or Mrs. Goat comes by and disrupts them. Bear comes to the rescue and repairs the damage. Each story ends with, “Everyone is happy.” Although they may be satisfied, Bear’s problem-solving methods are dubious. In the first tale, the bunnies are splattered in mud from Mr. Goat’s tractor. Bear puts the bunnies in a washing machine (conveniently located in the meadow) and then hangs them up by their ears to dry on a clothesline overnight. Next, Mrs. Goat is inexplicably vacuuming the field and sucks up the bunnies that are dozing in their underground burrow (but not the leaves or grass from the ground). Bear removes them from the vacuum cleaner bag, hangs them on a vertical clothesline, and directs a large fan at them to blow off the dirt. In the final story, Mr. Goat cuts off the bunnies’ tales while trimming the bushes. Bear uses a sewing machine to stitch them back on. Don’t try this at home, kids! Nyeu’s illustrations are silk-screened using water-based ink. The pastel palette and thickly outlined characters and objects are reminiscent of those in Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon (HarperCollins, 1955). The simple language and layout of the book make it suitable for beginning readers, but the art far outshines the unremarkable text.—Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT

OK, Martha, for reals, please tell me you’re not a children’s librarian, because you so Don’t Get It. (Also, I have to say that the illustrations don’t remind me a thing of Harold and the Purple Crayon, not that there’s anything wrong with that cute classic. In fact, we read both of these at bedtime tonight; I didn’t think for a second of any comparison.) It is HILARIOUS that Mrs. Goat vacuums the field! HILARIOUS that Bear blows dirt from the bunnies while they’re pinned to a vertical clothesine!

You know what’s dubious, Martha, huh? Your reviewing skillz iz dubious. Ha!

Ahem.

And now for THE NOT SO CUTE:

In case you missed this fabulous collection last week, The Creepiest Children’s Book Covers EVER. (HuffPo)

I only question the inclusion of the Winnie the Pooh cover. C’mon, guys; even the littlest kid knows the all-important difference between POOH and POO. No creep factor here, sorry!

Finally, this post gave me an excuse (not that I really needed it) to eat the both-cute-and-creepy white chocolate, peanut-butter-creme-filled Bunnicula I picked up in Louisville the other week. Mmmm. Yummy Bunny.