Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny

Part Peter Rabbit, part Velveteen Rabbit, Jeremy is a gentle little tale of a handmade bunny with honesty sewn right in. Lovingly crafted by a young woman in England, Jeremy knows he is destined for America. But rather than be shipped off in a cardboard box, he decides to make the journey himself. With the help of a lonely old man named Mr. Pruneholt, a sea captain and his noisy parrot, and a sweet but slightly barmy old woman called the Village Dear, Jeremy makes his way across the sea and into North Carolina. Along the way he dodges grabby children, a hungry fox, and finds an unlikely friend in an owl. Written as a kind of allegory for a favorite psalm of the author's, the tale is also a mini-Odyssey, complete with a sea crossing, beastly obstacles, and the promise of home at the end of the peregrinations.

Jan Karon is the author of the bestselling Mitford Years series, including At Home in Mitford. Teri Weidner's adorable depictions of plaid-trousered Jeremy and his friends and foes are sure to appeal to children from England to North Carolina and beyond. (Ages 7 to 10) --Emilie Coulter