Battle Bunny

Product Information

Guess Again mocks the guessing game picture book, Count the Monkeys does the same with counting books, and Chloe and the Lion makes fun author/illustrator collaborations. Make sure this book is only opened when the reader is located in a place where sudden outbursts of uncontrollable laughter are more appropriate.

So when I ran into Jon Scieszka a few months ago and he excitedly told me about the forthcoming Battle Bunny, I was intrigued but also wary --- was this a book kids would get or would it be something more amusing for adults? Overall, “Battle Bunny (Birthday Bunny)” is a truly creative story for both children and adults to read as it is full of comedy and action that will last for years! at least, that's what the story was about until Alex, the child reading the book, changes it by turning "Birthday Bunny" into "Battle Bunny" and re-writing and re-drawing the story. Scieszka and Barnett tell the real story on top; both in written form, but also by creating the idea of a young naughty boy graffiting his own book. Reading through it, the lesson I took away was that insipid picture books that talk down to their audiences deserve what they get.and Chloe and the Lion (both illustrated by Adam Rex), and the New York Times bestseller Extra Yarn . I am a big fan of subversive books, say the "recommended inappropriate books for kids" featured in Lane Smith's Curious Pages. Battle Bunny is original, hugely enjoyable, and, in what it assumes about the nature of boys, slightly disturbing.

Even I struggled with how to go about reading the book at first, eventually deciding to read Alex's defacings in my initial read-through, completely ignoring the original story, and then going through a second time to see what was actually in the original Birthday Bunny story.Alex even goes so far as to apply his editorial skills to the book's copyright page, with some highly amusing results. Consider too the parents, librarians, teachers, and more who will object to this book on moral grounds. Be it boredom, ungratefulness, or genius, Alex creates a bonkers, aggressive tale of a violent bunny and his war on the other woodland creatures.

Award-winning authors Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett have teamed up to create a wildly funny story in which a Birthday Bunny turns his very own special day into Battle Day! I wasn't sure he and his co-author Mac Barnett could sustain the joke through a whole book, but they do, and illustrator Matthew Myers' pictures (both the original ones from "Birthday Bunny" and Alex's additions to them) add to the general hilarity.Despite the subversive nature of the story, it is really quite creative and complex in its structure, causing readers to have to strategize about how to unpack the text. I must admit that I enjoyed the “Battle Bunny” story a bit more than the “Birthday Bunny” story because well, the “Birthday Bunny” story is your typical “main character is celebrating their birthday with their friends” plot, while the “Battle Bunny” story is full of awesome moments of Battle Bunny battling his enemies while that was the story that was being written over the “Birthday Bunny” story with childlike drawings being drawn all over the pages! That said, I also have observed that kids respond better to some of these more than others, an issue I explored years ago in a Horn Book article " Pets and Other Fishy Books. I have no particular issue with the dark sense of humour on show; some kids love the likes of Horrible Histories. International products have separate terms, are sold from abroad and may differ from local products, including fit, age ratings, and language of product, labeling or instructions.