Happy Birthday, Bunny!

Starred review from November 19, 2012
While the title isn’t especially distinctive, this is as memorable and heartfelt as a birthday book gets. Scanlon (All the World) presents the special day through a series of questions. “What are these and what are those?” the young birthday bunny asks, pointing to clothing held up by her mother and a polo-shirted older sibling. “Fancy shoes and party clothes!” they reply, as the girl holds her skirt out while they applaud. Graegin’s (Don’t Feed the Boy) pencil and ink wash spreads show the bunny’s family and friends—foxes, owls, raccoons, and more—crowded together in one room, the children chasing after each other, the grownups looking on. “What do you mean that time just flies?” the birthday girl asks the adults curled up on the sofa with photo albums. “You’re growing up before our eyes,” they tell her, while Graegin’s faux photos show her as a swaddled infant and a just-walking toddler. This isn’t about irony; it’s pure celebration, and readers will share wholeheartedly in the pleasure. Ages 2–5. Agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.

Starred review from December 15, 2012
Scanlon delivers a sweet, rhyming text to tell the story of a little bunny's birthday in Graegin's debut picture book. The succinct phrasing from page to page marks this as a text for very young children just learning about birthdays and birthday parties. The text takes a natural question-and-answer format as the birthday girl asks about each activity, and her mother offers loving replies. Scenes devoted to getting dressed up, greeting guests, celebrating with music and play, blowing out birthday-cake candles, opening gifts, taking pictures and looking back at past years provide an overview of the festivities. Perhaps taking a cue from the closing line's reference to the girl as "sweet honey bun," Graegin casts the unnamed central characters as a family of anthropomorphic bunnies, introducing a veritable peaceable kingdom of relatives and friends who come to celebrate on the special day. Graegin's illustrations employ pencil-and-ink washes that are then digitally assembled and colored, and they mark her as an up-and-coming artist to watch, as they evoke a style akin to that of Peter McCarty, Laura McGee Kvasnosky and Polly Dunbar. Happy birthday to a splendid book for new birthday boys and girls. (Picture book. 1-4)

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February 1, 2013

PreS-Gr 1-Rhyming couplets take an unnamed birthday bunny from the start of her day until bedtime. Each couplet begins with a question that is answered in the second line. "What are these/and what are those?/Fancy shoes and party clothes!" "Why does every one say cheese?/Because we want to take your picture, please!" Graegin's pencil and watercolor pictures depict a sweet and cozy world filled with fun, love, guests, and presents. The art and text work beautifully together. When Scanlon writes "Make a wish.../get set.../and blow!," Graegin shows the birthday cake and wish in a thought balloon. When Scanlon writes "You're growing up/ before our eyes," Graegin shows a succession of pictures of the birthday bunny from infant to toddler. The pictures have lots of excellent detail, such as Mother and Nana both wearing dresses with carrot patterns-one subtle and one less so. Perfect for storytime or individual sharing.-Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2012
Preschool-K A little bunny asks plenty of questions on her birthday, and each time, she receives a rhyming answer, as in this opening exchange: What are these and what are those? / Fancy shoes and party clothes. The short lines of text read aloud well, and the page turns between questions and answers give children a chance to respond in their own ways. They will be guessing who is knocking at the door, what's in the gift-wrapped box, or more abstractly, as the bunny's elders look through an album or scrapbook, What do you mean that time just flies? ( You're growing up before our eyes ). Created with pencil and ink washes, then digitally colored, the pleasing illustrations depict dressed animal characters celebrating in very human ways, with family, friends, food, music, and expressions of affection. This joyful introduction to birthdays focuses on a bunny who is old enough to articulate her questions but young enough to see the wonder of it all.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)