I Do Not Like Al's Hat

PreS-Gr 2--Herb, who is Al the magician's rabbit, has had it. He relishes the spotlight, the applause, and the carrots, but his ears hurt from night after night of being pulled out of a hat. He needs a new job, but the only options seem to be pet rabbit, wild rabbit, and veggie farmer. Weighing the pros and cons (and teaching readers about decision-making in the process), Herb finds that each vocation falls short. Then--ta da!--he tries the classified ads and meets a new friend, one who, too, enjoys the spotlight, the applause, and...carrot cake. This unexpected and lovely offering that ends with a warm friendship is beautifully illustrated with McGill's expressive, whimsical collages. It lends itself to multiple storytime pairings--for farm tales with a twist, pair it with Susan Pearson's Slugs in Love; for a storytime featuring classified ads, grab this and Rachael Mortimer's The Three Billy Goats Fluff; and for unexpected friendships, read this and Phyllis Root's Toot Toot Zoom! VERDICT What a romp! Al's loss is readers' gain when Herb goes on the lam. Sure to be a read-aloud favorite.--Henrietta Verma, National Information Standards Organization, Baltimore

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Herb, a magician's rabbit, tries to find a new gig in McGill's first solo picture book. "I do like the spotlight. I do like the applause. And I do like the carrots," Herb confesses, but constantly being stuffed into and yanked out of Abracadabra Al's hat has taken a toll on his ears, which he carefully bandages up before hitting the road. Sitting at a juice bar, Herb contemplates life as a wild rabbit (as part of a bunny biker gang) and a veggie farmer, but neither imagined scenario goes well. That leaves a job as a pet rabbit, and after answering a classified ad placed by a four-year-old named Sophie, Herb finds the home he's been seeking. McGill brings a lot of energy to her scraggly mixed-media collages, but the compositions can be busy or hard to decipher--when Herb realizes that he isn't "cut out for the wild life," he's shown sprawled out on the ground beside his motorcycle, but it's not really clear what happened. Although Herb's pared-down narration should prove encouraging to emerging readers, Herb never gets much of a personality. Ages 4-8. (Jan.)

Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

"This unexpected and lovely offering that ends with a warm friendship is beautifully illustrated with McGill's expressive, whimsical collages. ...What a romp! Al's loss is readers' gain when Herb goes on the lam. Sure to be a read-aloud favorite."—School Library Journal