Quiet Bunny's Many Colors by Lisa McCue

Quiet Bunny's Many Colors by Lisa McCue

Copyright 2011

Sterling - Ages 4-8

32 pages

Quiet Bunny loves springtime in the forest.

He loves the warm sun on his soft little nose.

He loves the tickly new grass between his toes.

Most of all, he loves the beautiful colors.

Quiet Bunny is a character created by author and illustrator Lisa McCue, who just happens to be a favorite illustrator of ours. We still occasionally recite the entire text of Kiddo's childhood favorite board book by McCue, "Raccoon's Hide and Seek," a book that was in tattered shreds by the time Kiddo exited the board book stage. So, I'm always thrilled to read anything at all by Lisa McCue and Quiet Bunny's Many Colors is another wonderful book by McCue.

As Quiet Bunny explores his world, he ends up going from one double-page spread to another, each full of flowers, animals, insects and other sights in a particular color. Here's yellow:

Sorry about the awkwardly-posed book. I wore out the cats with a game of laser chase, so I propped the book on my computer keyboard to snap a photo. In this page spread, Quiet Bunny realizes he's, "the color of winter. White like the snow and brown like the trees." He wants to be yellow. So, he spreads sticky honey on his fur and covers himself in yellow flowers.

Unfortunately, then he falls into the water, but that's okay because the whole point of the book is to teach children about colors, isn't it? The story continues in like manner, with glorious two-page spreads of beautifully detailed spring colors, Quiet Bunny's attempts to turn himself yet another color and then a bit of slapstick that lands him back at Square One, till he looks down in the water and sees a reflection of himself and an owl.

At this point, a flap opens up to a shockingly beautiful 3-page spread of life in and around the pond. And, the final note:

"We are all different colors, and we are all beautiful!"

My review: Highly recommended. Quiet Bunny's Many Colors is simply breathtaking, the kind of book that I shamelessly bought for my children because I liked ogling the illustrations, myself. The story is cute and upbeat, each color described is dominant enough within the illustrations to make the differentiation of color plain to small children. And, of course, the illustrations are marvelous. Because there's a flap, you'll want to make sure not to let smaller children open that last page or it's bound to tear but with a little help it should stay in fine shape. A lovely book to buy as an Easter gift (although it does not have an Easter theme, anything with a bunny is fodder for Easter giving, in my mind) or a spring birthday for little ones learning their colors . . . or, for just about any other excuse you can come up with.

So, I said, "I'll be back tomorrow". . . two days ago

Funny how the best-laid plans always end up ganging aft agley. Well, I'll get to the next review when I get to it. I should know better than to say I'll be back to post on a particular day, by now, shouldn't I?

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.