Bunny & Tree

Imaginative power and constant movement make this wordless debut picture book from artist Zsako a visual tour de force. After a wolf chases a band of scattering bunnies, one white rabbit with colorful ears is pursued as far as a tree, which responds by transmogrifying--its leafy silhouette duplicating the predator's greedy snarl. Stunned and grateful when the wolf turns tail and runs, the bunny asks the tree for help finding its fellow rabbits. (The two communicate via droll, blackboard-style illustrated thought bubbles.) The bunny excavates the tree's root system and packs it into a red cart, and the duo set off on an epic journey. Along the way, the tree obligingly remakes itself into new forms of transportation that suit the terrain--a train, a boat, an airplane--and a glad bunny reunion ushers in further discovery and transformation. Atmospheric backdrops create the sense of passing time as the journey hurtles onward. The page-turning tale mixes classic storytelling tropes--the ability to transform, a quest for lost loved ones, trees' majesty--into a fanciful exploration of a world in which love leads to growth, and growth, in turn, to deeper love. Ages 7--up. (May)

Cooperation, regeneration, and reunification conveyed wordlessly in nine acts. After a prologue chronicles Tree's germination and growth through four seasons, Act 1 introduces high drama. A hungry wolf threatens Bunny and eight multihued companions. Separated from the group, Bunny flees, pursued by the wolf. Tree shape-shifts, matching the wolf's menacing visage and scaring it off. Bunny is grateful, but pictograms in thought bubbles pinpoint the new issue: finding Bunny's missing mates. When Tree indicates that it's rooted to the ground, resourceful Bunny reappears with a wheeled cart, transplanting Tree into a pot for a classic quest. Responding to Bunny's pictograph cues, Tree morphs into a locomotive engine, sailboat, and airplane as the pair search. (Zsako's depictions of skies and weather are particularly mesmerizing.) Weeping atop a hill, Bunny encounters a bird who's spotted the bunnies near a twin-peaked mountain. Soon after Tree-as-airplane's landing, Bunny joyfully reunites with the colony. Though Tree manifests "eyes"--round voids in its foliage--Zsako avoids anthropomorphism, communicating emotions through body language, not physiognomy. The final acts in this handsomely bound, rich volume revel in the symbiosis among the rabbits, their poop, and Tree's newly replanted roots as its leaves nourish the hungry colony and they later spend winter burrowed beneath it. Wry visuals, like Tree's clear need for replanting, as well as color associations between rabbits, seeds, and newly emerging trees will intrigue both kids and grown-ups. A lush tale that's worthy of repeat perusals. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.