"Battle Bunny," by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett At first glance, you might mistake this little book for one of those slightly old-fashioned illustrated stories grandparents give preschoolers as holiday gifts. It could be a Golden Book, say, illustrated by Garth Williams. This one is already inscribed: "To my little birthday bunny on his special day. Love, Gran Gran. The note appears to have been written in ballpoint by someone who studied penmanship. But below that inscription, the book's title has been defaced: What was once "Birthday Bunny" has been scrawled over, with a marker and in a far less steady hand. It now reads, "Battle Bunny." Jon Scieszka, a co-author, with Mac Barnett, of "Battle Bunny," is a known mischief-maker. His 1992 book "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales" (illustrated by Lane Smith), messed around with canonical children's stories; his inventive, playful - and to some, heretical - approach was rewarded with Caldecott and New York Times Best Illustrated awards. "Battle Bunny" is another so-called postmodern book, merrily upending readers" expectations about what a children's book should be. Thanks to a clever book design, "Battle Bunny" has two layers of text: The first is the "Birthday Bunny" story, printed on each page as in an ordinary book. But most of the words of that story have been crossed out and replaced with handwritten ones, so that the old story is reconfigured to tell an entirely new one about a power-mad rabbit bent on destroying the world. The pictures too, originally sweet, have been modified by Matthew Myers with scribbles, crude drawings and quotations from the reimagined characters ("Time to get it on, carrot breath!") that populate this new book. Birthday Bunny himself goes from cuddly to piratical with a few pen lines indicating angry eyebrows and an eye patch (he also has an arsenal of hand-drawn weapons). "Mom, can I read that?" my 8-year-old son asked as soon as he saw the cover. Adults may see the fun, too, or they may wrestle with the fact that this is a very difficult - nearly impossible - book to read aloud. Even if you decide to read only the rewritten version of the story, you would want to stop at each sentence and note what had been scrawled out - because that's the point of having a layered narrative. But doing so spoils the momentum of the story - either story. Parents may also feel an instinctive dislike of seeing a book defaced. It's a taboo, of sorts, for book lovers, which is probably why it gives third graders a frisson of excitement. They're old enough to know they would get into trouble for treating a book that way - certainly a schoolbook or a library book. The urge to rewrite, though, is a creative one, and there is exuberance, bravery and brash authority at work here. Perhaps the greatest resistance to this book may be from parents who see their children on the cusp of leaving their early sweetness behind. Reading aloud to middle-grade children can be a tremendous bond and shared pleasure: This book says "Welcome!" to children. To adults, it says "Keep out!" But you can't argue with an 8-year-old who sees "Battle Bunny" and wants to read it right away. Scieszka and Barnett are on to something, whether sentimental grown-ups like it or not.