Bib On, Bunny!

Children's Literature - Phyllis Kennemer

A small child shares his lunch with a stuffed bunny in this eight-page board book. Intended as an interactive toy book, the cloth head of a finger-puppet bunny pushes through a cut-out circle on each page. The minimal rhyming text is written as a conversation between the child and the bunny. First he asks the bunny to put on a bib; then he offers the bunny a carrot because it is good for him. The bunny responds with crunching and chewing. The bunny eats cheese and an apple slice. The last scene shows both the boy and the bunny with clean bibs while the table is a mess with spilled milk (from a sippy cup?) and red goo (which does not relate to any of the foods in the previous pictures). The concept of having the finger puppet interact with a toddler is innovative, but the child may question how the last spread relates to the previous pictures. Part of the "Chatterboox" series. Reviewer: Phyllis Kennemer, Ph.D.

Kirkus Reviews

Through four successive page turns, an earnest baby works hard to inveigle a bunny into a bib and then through lunch. The bunny's head is a finger puppet that pokes through die-cut holes and maintains its place as lunch proceeds. Unfortunately, the marriage of form to function hits hard times, as pulling the bunny's ears through each hole is something of a struggle, and, once liberated, they tend to obscure the text. This technology, therefore, serves to distract from rather than enhance the experience. Other titles in the Chatterboox series (Dive in, Ducky!, ISBN: 978-1-84643-290-3; Sleep Tight, Teddy!, ISBN: 978-1-84643-291-0; Play Time, Puppy!, ISBN: 978-1-84643-289-7) do better, but they're still not a patch on Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich's similarly constructed but more artful In My Pond (2009) and companions. (Board book. 6 mos.-18 mos.)