Bunny figures it out

PreS-Gr 2--It's simple, really. Young Bunny just wants grape jelly for her peanut butter sandwich, but the fridge is empty. "No sweetness. No stickiness. No purpleness." Anywhere. So Bunny starts asking her family for help, and the answers are just a little misleading. Joyner's playful cartoon art, via pencil and digital editing, feature the animated faces of Bunny and those around her in colorfully detailed scenes of a somewhat old-fashioned world. Her busy mother and brother pause to give advice and smart neighbor Kitty shares magic words, a bunch of grapes in a bowl, and glitter, while Bunny's hard-at-work dad mentions something about "squished-up grapes and sugar." Clearly, no one can agree upon a simple recipe, including a roundtable of domino-playing older animals. Bunny finally remembers the place where she could always find answers--the school library. That leads to a nice final scene of Bunny in the kitchen with her mother. VERDICT A recipe for success, this is a general purchase to please inquisitive readers, with nuts-and-bolts advice and a sweet dollop of sugar.--Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano I.S.D., TX

Learn gentle information-gathering skills through jelly-making. Bunny is a rabbit on a mission: to make a peanut-butter--and--grape-jelly sandwich for lunch. Sadly, the household appears to be out of jelly, and no one can help. Mom is busy with work, so Bunny resolves to make some. But…Bunny's older brother's phone search returns shoes instead of jelly; Dad's understanding is pretty rudimentary; Grandma's friends quarrel over whose recipe is the correct one; and pal Kitty's knowledge is guided more by click-bait internet videos than facts. Bunny's last hope is the public library, where a giraffe librarian directs her to the cookbook section and a reliable answer. The story and the illustrations are adorable, but the message about the importance of finding trusted sources is simplistic. A skillful educator or caregiver may be able to use the story as a springboard for a meaningful conversation about discovering valid info, but it will be an uphill journey. The added (outdated) implication that a library is useful only for paper-based research help is unintended misinformation that should be avoided. Backmatter includes a recipe for making (but not canning) jelly, but there are no further tips on finding trusted sources. It's a shame because the story had potential. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.) Cute--but short a few grapes. (Picture book. 6-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.