A Starlit Somersault Downhill is a 1993 book by Nancy Willard and illustrator Jerry Pinkney about a rabbit that is invited by a bear to share a cave over winter but instead of hibernating decides to enjoy the outside.
Publishers Weekly, in a review of A Starlit Somersault Downhill, wrote "Willard's typically sophisticated language gains meaning through repeated readings, and her sonorous rhyming couplets impart liveliness to nature's sleeping season. Lavishly detailed, full-spread watercolors afford views of untidy woods and tousled fur--they bristle with energy even as they suggest the restlessness youngsters may experience in the deep of night, wide awake and alone."
A Starlit Somersault Downhill has also been reviewed by Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, The Horn Book Magazine, School Library Journal, and the Cooperative Children's Book Center.