Herb the rabbit, tired of having his ears grabbed by Al the magician during his signature magic trick, decides to leave his job as magician's assistant, and look for another occupation. After considering the life of a wild rabbit - too insecure! - and a vegetable farmer - too much work! - he settles on pet rabbit. Answering an advertisement in the Carrot Chronicles, he meets Sophie, a little girl whose ideas of fun match his own...

This debut from author/illustrator Erin McGill - I believe she may have illustrated some other titles, but I Do Not Like Al's Hat is the first picture-book she has both written and illustrated - has an amusing premise, and quirky mixed media illustrations, so I was expecting to be utterly charmed by it. Unfortunately, something about it just didn't work for me. Perhaps I expected to find Herb a more endearing character, given the sympathy I felt at first for his poor ears? Having recently had to deal with the goldfish "fallout" from a magician's act - after using quite a few hapless creatures in his act, he abandoned them, instructing the staff at our store to flush them down the toilet** - I am keenly aware of the ways in which such performers misuse living creatures in their work. That said, I felt the narrative focus here was rather scattered, and that the story squandered the initial emotional involvement that the opening scene evoked. Whatever the case may be, although the story here wasn't a complete hit with me, I did find McGill's artwork appealing, and will be interested to see what she does in the future.

**Although we did no such thing, most of the fish died regardless, as we didn't have the right equipment to keep them alive. One, Pippin, survived and is currently thriving in a proper tank, which we were forced to buy, in order to give him a proper home. ( )