This engaging tale’s idea of improving disliked foods with honey may win over reluctant eaters.
A bunny-loving girl who hates carrots learns that with just a drop of honey, her least favorite vegetable can become a treat.
Inspired by Carlson’s youngest granddaughter, Leni, this picture book introduces the child’s namesake, called “The Bunny Whisperer.” Despite Leni’s love of nature and bunnies, she can’t stand to eat carrots. One night, she encounters a rabbit in a dream who explains the origins behind the name Honey Bunny. When mother bunny tries to get Honey Bunny to eat carrots, the young rabbit refuses. So the mother takes Honey Bunny to some beehives to explain where honey comes from and how just a dollop of it on carrots makes them “sweet and yummy in my tummy.” The author combines the idea of trying a new food—or attempting to fix a detested item by adding a different flavor—with notes about how bees live. An endnote geared more toward grown-ups describes how pollinators help fertilize plants and how some, like bumblebees, are at risk. The main text features succinct sentences, frequently appearing in word balloons for easy reading. Portraitist Moulton’s oil pastel illustrations, especially an early image of Leni’s face, are beautiful. The cartoonish bunnies are well suited to the tale. But the bees tread the line between cartoons and realism. The White protagonist appears in the background on each page, reacting to Honey Bunny’s story.
This engaging tale’s idea of improving disliked foods with honey may win over reluctant eaters.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73444-272-4
Page Count: 31
Publisher: SLP Storytellers
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too many bugs, figuratively.
Lucy, “the youngest member of a family of fireflies,” must overcome an irrational, moon-induced anxiety in order to leave her family tree trunk and glow.
The first six pages pull readers into a lush, beautiful world of nighttime: “When the sun has set, silence falls over the Big Forest, and all of the nighttime animals wake up.” Mixed media provide an enchanting forest background, with stylized flora and fauna eventually illuminated by a large, benign moon, because the night “doesn’t like to catch them by surprise.” Turning the page catches readers by surprise, though: the family of fireflies is decidedly comical and silly-looking. Similarly, the text moves from a lulling, magical cadence to a distinct shift in mood as the bugs ready themselves for their foray into the night: “They wave their bottoms in the air, wiggle their feelers, take a deep, deep breath, and sing, ‘Here we go, it’s time to glow!’ ” It’s an acceptable change, but more unevenness follows. Lucy’s excitement about finally joining the other bugs turns to “sobbing” two nights in a row. Instead of directly linking her behavior to understandable reactions of children to newness, the text undermines itself by making Lucy’s parents’ sweet reassurances impotent and using the grandmother’s scientific explanation of moonlight as an unnecessary metaphor. Further detracting from the story, the text becomes ever denser and more complex over the book’s short span.
Too many bugs, figuratively. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-84-16147-00-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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