Doctor Rabbit's Lost Scout by Jan Wahl (1979) is a frightening drama made less harrowing by the Wahl's choice of animal characters. A collection of young wildlife are on a camping trip with their troop leader, Doctor Rabbit. On the first page, Doctor Rabbit sits outside a tent, a full moon in the night sky, while his charges sleep inside. The text reads, "Summer's night shimmered. Lightning bugs glowed like soft silver buttons. Tall grasshoppers danced while their skinny legs sang like fiddles." Then, a sleepwalker leaves the tent. "It was Spotty Chipmunk, walking with eyes staring open." Miss Mouse, the scout nurse, follows him--until she doesn't. In the darkness, he's lost. All the members of the troop wake up and join the hunt for Spotty. It takes much longer to find him than I expected. I began to worry that they wouldn't. But, of course, they do, thank goodness. I like Cyndy Szekeres illustrations. She captures happiness, fear, worry, grief, and then jubilation on all the little furry faces.
