Tuesday, July 7, 2009

A sweet book for animal lovers - Emmaline and the Bunny, by Katherine Hannigan

All of us yearn for a friend, and I clearly remember a point in my childhood when my pets were my closest companions. I could tell them all my secrets, pour my heart out to them and they wouldn't tell a soul. There's a special magic in having such a pet. Emmaline, in the new short novel Emmaline and the Bunny, craves a bunny as her special friend. It's a lovely book - perfect for 1st through 3rd graders (or younger children as a read-aloud) who love animals.
Emmaline and the Bunny
written and illustrated by Katherine Hannigan
NY: Greenwillow Books, 2009.
ages 6 - 9
Emmaline and her family live in the town of Neatasapin, on Shipshape Street. The town mayor, Orson Oliphant, declares that "Tidy homes are spick-and-span sparkling! ... Tidy children are still, silent and spotless!" What is a child like Emmaline to do? She likes to dig in the dirt, hop in the puddles and shout, "Hoopalala!" and "Dinglederrydee!" when she's happy. Emmaline wants a friend, but she really wants a bunny "most mostly." She tries to be tidy like her parents ask her, so she can get a bunny - but when her parents take her to see the caged bunnies at the pet shop, she's despondent. She creates a burrow under the dining room table, decorating it with pictures of bunnies that can hop and scoot-skedaddled with her. And then she runs away, and discoveres the wild place - where a real bunny live, a real bunny that becomes her friend.

My daughters and I really enjoyed this quiet fantasy. It is filled with a love for children and a respect for their imaginations and their worlds. It sings of a love of nature in all its untidiness, and a need to have nature and animals in our lives. Katherine Hannigan's watercolors are full of a soft, bright joy. My fourth-grader and I loved Hannigan's novel Ida B., a realistic story of a girl dealing with her mother's battle with cancer, but this was completely new and different - a real treat.

This small delight is perfect as a read-aloud for kindergartners and first graders, or as an early chapter book for 2nd graders. Browse through the publisher's website below to read a few chapters and see the wonderful illustrations.



For some other reviews, look at:
The Kids Corner (listen to the great podcast)
Wrighty's Read
Patchwork of Books

Emmaline and the Bunny is available through your local independent bookstore, Amazon or your local public library.

3 comments:

  1. Nicely described! How about Blue Chip?

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  2. I read this book to my 5 year old daughter around Easter and Earth Day. We really enjoyed it. And she made some wonderful observations about how we need plantlife to survive. However, I was a little creeped out by the old woman with the braid. She, or perhaps her braid, reminded me of the super weird skittles beard commercial.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9ZUJNgwlfY

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  3. Hey, I'll be reading this one as a Newbery Contender. Are you reading from a list like that?

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