Dog and Rabbit

Dog is lonely and wants a friend. Rabbit is lonely and wants a friend. When Rabbit discovers a bunny cut-out on the fridge when peering through the window of Dog’s house, he frequently returns to visit and stare at the bunny through the window, hopping away as soon as Dog’s face pops up through the window. One day, upon finding the door open, Rabbit hops inside to discover that the bunny cut-out isn’t real, but Dog is and a friendship develops instantly. The simple story reads like an early reader book, more intent on using only simple words—and as few words as possible at that—than on creating a meaningful plot, and the basic illustrations, while cute and adequate, do nothing to raise the book’s energy or interest level. The large, blue letters incorporated in the illustration part of the page seem early on to designate some type of mini-chapter, but then bring only confusion when the same letters float in dogs window, changing from “Friend?” To “Friend”. The theme of loneliness and initially unrequited friendship being ultimately abolished by true friendship is a timeless one, and the final tableau of Rabbit and Dog smiling at each other has all of the same feel-goods as their cloud-version caper in the sky, but overall, the execution falls flat.