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THAT'S NOT BUNNY! by Chris Barton

THAT'S NOT BUNNY!

by Chris Barton ; illustrated by Colin Jack

Pub Date: Feb. 2nd, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9086-8
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

A hawk with deplorable aim seems fated to become an unhappy vegetarian.

The long-eared protein element on his menu seems to have more lives than a cat. The hawk gets the bunny in his sights, zooms in with talons splayed, and comes away with…a carrot? Amid a growing collection of nonmeat items in his nest, and a lot of nonproductive screaming, the stymied hawk suffers an identity crisis. “I’m a carrot hawk.” / “I’m a cucumber hawk.” / “I’m a lettuce hawk.”  // “I’m a… / I’m a….” Jack’s lively, 1950s–ish digitalized illustrations successfully capture the escalating frustration against a backdrop of stark white pages. Both hawk and bunny are dapper in button-down shirts and spiffy vests, triggering memories of old Warner Bros. cartoons. One particularly funny illustration uses cookbooks to depict Hawk's existential dilemma: in one "hand" he holds 1001 Ways to Cook Veggies; in the other is  1001 Ways to Cook Rabbit. (Alas, a similarly humorous image on the front endpapers, of Hawk avidly reading How to Cook Rabbits, is covered by the jacket flap, as is a smug bunny on the rear endpapers.) Barton introduces elements of humor, but the book fails to fully execute—think Coyote vs. Roadrunner without the payoff.

A disappointing effort, particularly when compared to Barton’s much more entertaining and creative Shark vs. Train.

(Picture book. 3-6)