Betty Bunny Wants a Goal by Michael B. Kaplan (review)

Betty Bunny (of Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake, BCCB 5/11, etc.) returns, and this time she’s in cleats, because it’s soccer time. She starts with a head of steam, but her first match is a dismal disappointment, and she swears off the game entirely. Her siblings try, with various degrees of enthusiasm, to encourage her to stick to it and to practice until she improves, and finally her first goal restores her to her old bumptious self. Kaplan has created a comfortable and effective pattern in Betty’s outings, with sparky Betty backed by her gaggle of siblings and especially counterpointed by sardonic older brother Bill as she comes to terms with a difficult developmental challenge. The wit and liveliness of the dialogue and the emotional authenticity of Betty’s struggle makes it all enjoyably sympathetic rather than didactic, and many, many youngsters will recognize the frustration of dreams that outstrip their ability. Pencil, ink, watercolor, and gouache is zingy and vivacious, with the anthropomorphized Bunny family airily balloon-like in their earthtoned roundness against creamy white pages; the lively vignette sequences of the young pigs, elephants, and bunnies playing soccer captures the chaotic action of kids throwing themselves at organized sports (and sometimes missing). Betty is both perfectly herself and developmentally everykid, and youngsters will find her an able representative of their own travails.