'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Monday 25 March 2019

Review: My Funny Bunny

When all you’ve ever dreamed of is a cool dwarf rabbit as big as a kiwi, you’d be pretty upset too if you opened your birthday present to find a big potato rabbit with patchy fur and wiry whiskers.

You’d storm to your room and yell and yell and tell your potato rabbit he’s ruined your birthday and you would never love him. You would.

But what if it turned out your funny looking potato rabbit was actually kind of nice? What if he made you smile and was helpful and always stayed by your side?

Would you love him then? Even if he was still a funny potato bunny and not a cool dwarf rabbit like you wanted?

My Funny Bunny is a fun and heart tickling picture book about finding love in things you don’t expect to love. It’s about really, really wanting something, not getting it and learning to love what you get instead. 

It’s a powerful and important message for kids (and adults) because the world is not always what we expect it to be, and we don’t always get what we want. But at the same time, joy can be found in anything, and if we open our eyes to the possibilities, we will see it.

Author Christine Roussey is a talented writer. The voice in this book is so strong and so ‘kid’. The story propels you back into childhood from the first page. The boy in the story comes alive on the pages and you feel his every sadness, wonder and joy throughout the book.

Roussey is an equally talented illustrator, and you will adore exploring this book. Simple blends with the detailed and complex. Lots of white space and pops of super bright colour make the book so engaging to explore.

I’m not an illustrator, and I do not know all the technical terms for the illustration style, but what I can say is every page pulls me in, and every page makes me smile. 

This is a book you’ll see on the shelf and be drawn to. You’ll flick through and look at the pictures and you’ll be sold. You’ll take it home and read it, and you’ll smile again because the story is brilliant and this book really has it all.

Beautiful, funny, heart-warming, truthful, relatable, funky and cool, My Funny Bunny is a stunning picture book about unexpected best-friendship.

And FYI, if you love My Funny Bunny, you might also be keen to check out My Lazy Cat and My Stinky Dog, also by Christine Roussey.

Title: My Funny Bunny
Author/Illustrator: Christine Roussey
Publisher: Abrams, $24.99
Publication Date: 12 March 2019
Format: Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
ISBN: 9781419736186
For ages: 3 - 6 
Type: Picture Book