Bunny’s Book Club by Annie Silvestro, Illus. by Tatjana Mai-Wyss, Doubleday, $23
Egg by Kevin Henkes, Greenwillow Books, $21
Spring is in full swing and It’s time to celebrate with two excellent new seasonal picture books.
Egg is the latest offering by a truly accomplished writer/illustrator whose award-winning works have dazzled audiences for years.
Henkes’ understated humour and soft, pastel illustrations will please his fans.
The book’s jacket summarizes the simple plot: ”four eggs, one big surprise.” Three pink, blue and yellow birds emerge from matching eggs and only a green egg is left. The birds examine it and decide to help it along by pecking.
One entire page is devoted to this process and readers will quickly get the message of busy exertion after sixteen repetitions of “peck, peck, peck.” To the birds’ dismay, a small alligator emerges who soon expresses his sadness at being abandoned.
It gets better.
The birds respond to the alligator’s loneliness and a tentative interspecies relationship blossoms into friendship.
The four friends then watch the sun morph into an egg, a deft nod to the theme of constant renewal.
This book is guaranteed to elicit happy thoughts about friendship and possibly food due to the candy-coloured pictures and chocolate brown page borders!
. . .
“When you open a book, you discover a world ... ” and Bunny is well aware of this fact.
Bunny’s enjoyment of outdoor library story time ends with the arrival of cooler weather and he is desperate as he is sure he can’t live without books.
He breaks into the library via the book drop and purloins a stack of treasures. His forays continue until his home is “more books than burrow!”
Pretty soon his other friends twig to the fact that something is up with Bunny and he lets them all in on his secret. He even helps them all break into the library and they revel in the wonders to be found there. Suddenly the light clicks on.
Busted!
The librarian regards them sternly and tells them all libraries have rules. The animals are horrified but relax when they are given library cards to legitimize the borrowing.
And that is how Bunny’s book club was created!
This is a debut picture book by Silvestro and hopefully not the last. The illustrations by animal lover Mai-Wyss of a group of endearing animals scampering around perfectly suit the story.
Bunny is an especially charming and intrepid character.
Fran Ashdown was the children’s librarian at the Capilano Branch of the NV District Library. She once had two pet bunnies and a jealous cat. For more information check your local libraries.
