by Moe Zilla

Created on: April 05, 2010

"At bedtime in the burrow, Noah was squished and squashed by sleepy rabbits."

There's an adorable picture of a pile of rabbits, and their whiskers are all white in the bright starlight shining down into their hole. "Too many rabbits!" Noah decides, and he heads off into the night. There he's greeted by a talking albatross, who tells him a story about the land of the North Star. And by the third page he's flying away on the albatross's back.

It's a spectacular drawing - there's a full moon, and a bright trail of snowflakes that lead to the big twinkly star over an ocean-blue horizon. Illustrator Jane Chapman draws the characters in a cartoon-like style, using bright children's book colors and funny expressions for their faces. It's a good complement to cheerful bunny story written by Elizabeth Bagueley. And the illustrations get even more complicated when Noah spots twelve rabbits that look exactly like him - in the reflections from icicles!

My favorite drawing is on the book's cover, showing a forlorn little bunny who's lost in the snow. But at first, Noah is happy to be in the land of the North Star, and he hops excitedly that he'll no longer get squished by sleepy rabbits. He slips onto an ice slide, which leads to an ice palace "as big as Big and as quiet as Quiet." In the reflection of an icicle, Noah spots "his fluff grand with ice crystals," and he feels like a king as he nests in a roomy pile of snow.

It's a good story, because it delivers its message with more than cute animals. There's the dazzling sights of the lonely ice palace, but also the real (and un-cozy) descriptions of chilly ice. Noah misses the warmth of his family - both figuratively and literally. He calls for his friend Albatross, who carries him home on her back, and the bunny nestles into her warm down, "thinking only of home."

The book's last picture is very much like the first. There's an adorable picture of a pile of rabbits, their whiskers all white in the moonlight shining into their hole. Noah the rabbit has a big smile on his face, and the story reveals that he's "delightfully crumpled and crammed," as "with a sigh he fell happily asleep."

And if you look closely you can spot the Albatross flying off into the night.

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