She tries subduing them with a lasso, an eye patch, and a sombrero, but she is defeated. Finally, Pippa decides that she “needs a plan” to “get rid of them once and for all.” She decides to slip a written invitation into every book, and that night, they all come out. Pippa flees to her parents’ room only to be brought back time and again. But in bed at night, Pippa worries about “villains and monsters and beasts.” Sharp-toothed and -taloned shadows, dragons, and pirates emerge from her storybooks like genies from a bottle, just to scare her. Pippa’s “wonderfully wild imagination” can sometimes run “a little TOO wild.” During the day, she wears her “armor” and is a force to be reckoned with. Pippa conquers a fear of the creatures that emerge from her storybooks at night. The journey culminates in a homecoming when Sato settles into bed, cozily “sipping stories late into the night.” The painterly illustrations suggest homage to Where the Wild Things Are, works by Eric Carle, and others.

Alongside Sato, readers travel through the seasons while sharing his myriad, surprising lenses on the universe.

Similarly charming artwork illustrates the interconnectedness among nature, children, and creativity in six other episodic expeditions featuring distinct themes: “A Sea of Grass” “A Night of Stars” “Watermelon” (used as a boat) “A Window to the Sky” “Walnuts” (envisioned as coffee shop, bakery, and much more) and “Forest Ice” (evoking multicolored frozen treats in various flavors). It ultimately leads to an anthropomorphic pond that not only “blows water into the hose as hard as it can,” but also recedes “back to being its tiny, peaceful self at Sato’s playful signal that he’s done. As he tends to the garden, a blue hose winds, looking rather like a stream, along a bucolic, tree-studded landscape with romping animals. At the outset, Haneru Sato, a pale-skinned, black-haired lad, adopts both the identity and the likeness of a rabbit, thereby embracing alternate ways of experiencing the world. This Japanese import emphasizes perspectives-especially those belonging to children who improvise and innovate on prosaic tasks and the minutiae of daily life. A child’s vivid imagination transforms everyday activities into magical interactions.

Sato the Rabbit by Yuki Ainoya