Margaret Wise Brown—is there any other name as synonymous with brilliant picture books and warm childhood memories? Though most readers are more familiar with the much-loved Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny is my favorite Brown book by far.

Written in 1942 (and still a timeless classic today; it’s never been out of print), The Runaway Bunny, illustrated by Clement Hurd, tells the story of a young bunny who intends to run away from home. (How many of us have threatened to run away at such an early age, multiple times even?) His sagacious mother, however, informs him that wherever he goes, he’ll never be far from her: “If you run away, I will run after you. For you are my little bunny.”

Of course, if your mother was like my own, she just scoffed, “Okay, goodbye then,” and went back to washing dishes or watching Young and the Restless. Most of us don’t follow through with our threats at age four.

After the initial “threat” is made, the dazzling adventure begins. You really wouldn’t predict from the cover of this book that the bunnies would turn into a rock on a mountain, a fish in a stream, and other fantastical creatures or objects. For each and every place or thing the bunny claims he will transport himself to, his mother has a calm answer as to how she, too, will transform to be with him.

The images are as if they are from a dream—surreal and vibrant yet almost dazed, as if directly following the imaginings of the bunny and his mama. It’s not just a book about amazing fantasy concepts, however; it’s also primarily about a mother’s love of her child and how, no matter where he goes, she will be there to care for him—and he will never be without her. The safety and security she provides in her steadfast reassurance makes this book a perfect bedtime story as well.

A member of the Brown/Hurd classic series, The Runaway Bunny can often be found in gift sets with the other books in the series—Goodnight Moon and My World—in collections known as Over the Moon. Readers of Goodnight Moon will also recognize a copy of The Runaway Bunny within the Goodnight Moon book, as well as the picture of the mother bunny fishing for her baby bunny, who has been turned into a fish through his own imaginings.