Owen; Who's in Rabbit's House?

Winner of the 1996 Carnegie Medal, Owen, based on the 1993 Caldecott award winning book by Kevin Henkes, is a delightful story of a mouse and his blanket, winsomely narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker. Reminiscent of the popular Peanuts character Linus, young Owen is very attached to his blanket "Fuzzy" ("Fuzzy goes where I go.") Owen shares his food with Fuzzy (i.e. spills), sucks on Fuzzy in the bathtub, and sleeps with Fuzzy each night. Although Owen's parents see no reason for concern, a next-door busybody named Mrs. Tweezers, convinces the couple to remove Owen's blanket before he starts attending school. How the dilemma is resolved to everyone's satisfaction makes for an enjoyable ending to a very humorous take on the sensitive issue of textile separation anxiety. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: K, P.James Earl Jones, though best known for his mellifluous bass voice, can range pretty far and wide in his vocal pitch and timbre, and Who's in Rabbit's House?, based on the popular 1977 title by Verda Aardema (with illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon), is a perfect showcase. Adapted from a Masai folktale, this animated fable is presented as a play in which actors wear elaborate animal masks. The story has Rabbit returning home, only to be warned by a presence inside his house called "The Long One," who eats "trees and tramples on elephants," that he will suffer the same fate should he try to enter. A succession of animals volunteer their services which, unfortunately, always seem to include the destruction of Rabbit's house (a plank of the plan which Rabbit naturally finds insupportable). Eventually, the mystery of Rabbit's visitor is revealed (and I'm not telling who or what it is) in a rewarding fashion. Highly recommended. Aud: K, P. (R. Pitman)