Good Day, Good Night

PreS-Gr 1—In this previously unpublished story, a lone bunny greets a new day and the people and animals he encounters in his rabbit community, and bids them good night that evening. After viewing the rising sun from atop a hill, the bunny delivers newspapers on his bike waving "good day" to everyone: to the birds, the bees, and his own kitty, urging them to "open [their] eyes/For every day/Is a new surprise." When day is done, he says good night to those same birds and bees, (there are charming close-ups of the snoozing birds and a young bee enjoying a bedtime story while others sleep on hive windowsills) as well as to flowers, bugs, the stuffed bear, and the kitty in his room, and "people everywhere." The rhyming text is brief and conveys the bunny's enthusiasm for life. Yet it is occasionally awkward as in "Good night, sky/And the daylight/Good night, flowers/Bugs, good night." Long's lovely acrylic paintings move from colorful spreads filled with details such as multiple rabbit dwellings, folks jogging or enjoying coffee and heading to work, to small scenes on white ground. A bakery named "Bonbunnyrie" and a milk company called "Harey Dairy" provide humor. The transition from day to night happens abruptly in both text and illustrations, moving from a soccer game in broad daylight to a scene of the bunny on his hill under the rising moon.