Knuffle Bunny - A Cautionary Tale

Willems, M. (2004). Knuffle bunny - A cautionary tale. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Genre:  Picture Book
Age Level:  2-5

Summary:  Knuffle Bunny - A Cautionary Tale is a  Caldecott Honor Book.  This book is sweet story about a little girl named Trixie, who is not even old enough to speak yet.  Trixie has a beloved Knuffle Bunny, which is the center of her world.  She also loves to spend time with her daddy, even when he is visiting the laundromat.  Trixie, Knuffle Bunny, and her daddy are in for quite an adventure when they make a routine visit to take care of the family's laundry.  If you want to know what happen, you will definitely have to read this wonderful tale.

Mo Willems wrote and illustrated this book.  This book is very different from the "Pigeon" books that he writes and illustrates.  With the illustrations, the concept of directionality is being viewed on every page.  It is as though a map is being drawn before your eyes and you can see how to get from Trixie's home to the laundromat.  Also, the illustrations convey a greater sense of reality to a picture.  There is a mixture of real-life photos and the animated drawings of Trixie, her family, and those in her neighborhood.  This type of illustration can bring things to life in a more realistic way.

Reflection:  I found this book to be very easy to read and enjoy.  I thought that the use of real-world pictures along with the animated inllustrations added a neat feature to this book.  I have never seen this type of illustration used in any other book, and also found it to be quite different than Willems' other books.  This book would be a great read for young children who are having a hard time with responsibility.  It would also be a good way to show them how they really need to use their words to let people know what they are saying.  This book brought back memories of my son's younger days when he had a "burpie" as we called his cloth diaper that he had to take with him everywhere.

Big Questions:  In your opinion, what is a knuffle bunny? Why does Trixie have a knuffle bunny? Would you be upset if you lost something that was very special to you? How could you use your words to let someone know how you really feel about something or someone?