[BOOK REVIEW] The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

Title:  The Runaway Bunny

Author:  Margaret Wise Brown

Artist:  Clement Hurd

Genre:  Family / Imagination / Adventure / Love

Year Published: 1942

Year Read:  2017

Publisher:  HarperCollins Publishers

Series: Over the Moon #1

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Some Themes of Stalking, although it depends on the reader)

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After I had read Margaret Wise Brown’s popular children’s book “Goodnight Moon,” I wanted to read more of Margaret Wise Brown’s works and I happened to stumbled upon another one of her popular works called “The Runaway Bunny,” along with artwork by Clement Hurd.  “The Runaway Bunny” is a truly cute story about the love shared between a parent and child that children will enjoy!

The story starts off with a little bunny wanting to run away from home and when he told his mother about it, his mother just said that she will come running after him, no matter where the little bunny will run off to!

I must admit that I cannot believe that I waited this long to read this classic children’s story about a love shared between a parent and a child!  Margaret Wise Brown had done a great job at conveying a mother bunny’s devotion to her child as she is always pledging to follow her child to the ends of the earth, whether the bunny wants to become a rock on a mountain or a sailboat to escape from his mother.  I also enjoyed the soothing tone of this book as the story never felt too chaotic or intense when dealing with the little bunny’s desire to run away and I always felt good when the mother bunny tries to comfort her child by telling him that she will always love him no matter what.  Clement Hurd’s artwork is truly gorgeous and creative to look at, especially when there are transitions between the black and white artwork and the colorful artwork.  I loved the fact that the scenes where we get to see the imaginations of the little bunny running away from home in different and unique ways, is displayed in color as they make the situations stand out much more.  My favorite image in the book would be the image of the mother bunny posing as the wind and blowing her child, who is a sailboat at this point, towards the destination she desires.

The reason why I took off half a point from the rating was because even though the book is showing that the mother bunny truly does care for her child by following him to the ends of the earth whenever the little bunny runs away, I cannot help but feel like the mother bunny’s behavior comes off as a bit like a stalker as she would chase her child no matter where he goes.  Just like Robert Munsch’s children’s book “Love You Forever,” while it is cute that the mother bunny cares enough for her child to chase him down across the earth, the whole “the mother bunny is going to catch her son no matter what” theme might be unsettling for some readers to handle.

Overall, “The Runaway Bunny” is a cute story about the power of love shared between a parent and their child that many children will enjoy for many years!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up, even though the stalker implications of the mother bunny might unsettle some readers.

You might also like:

• Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

• You Are Special by Max Lucado

[BOOK REVIEW] Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss

Title:  Horton Hatches the Egg

Author:  Dr. Seuss

Genre:  Animals / Responsibility / Drama / Family

Year Published: 1940

Year Read:  2010

Series: Horton the Elephant #1

Publisher: Random House

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Some Irresponsible Parenting)

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"Horton Hatches the Egg" is one of Dr. Seuss' most memorable classics as it stars everyone's favorite elephant, Horton!  This time, Horton has his hands full as he tries his best to take care of a lazy bird named Mayzie's egg while she goes off to take a vacation.  Unfortunately, hunters come in the jungle and they got Horton trapped!  Will Horton get out of this dangerous predicament and still protect Mayzie's egg?  Read the story to find out!

Dr. Seuss had done a great job at both illustrating and writing this book.  What was so unique about this book were the illustrations.  The main colors used for the images were blue, black, white and red, which makes the book extremely creative as few books use only three or four colors to color the images.  Horton the elephant always wore a smile on his face, despite his horrendous situation, making him a truly innocent and friendly animal.  A great trait that this book has shown is how loyal and determine Horton is as he was willing to take care of Mayzie's egg and he refused to let anyone tease him about taking care of the egg since he wanted to follow on his word that he will take good care of the egg.

The only problem this book has, in terms of if it is appropriate for children, is that Mayzie was being selfish around Horton and she refused to take responsibility for taking care of her egg at the expense of Horton.  But, don't worry, Mayzie's irresponsible actions are shown in a negative light and the story strongly encourages children to be more responsible and to not follow Mayzie's example of irresponsibility.

"Horton Hatches the Egg" is truly a memorable classic about the importance of being loyal and keeping your promise to people and this book will easily be an instant hit for children everywhere.  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book unless you count Mayzie's irresponsible behavior being unsuitable for children to learn from.

* 1958 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award

[BOOK REVIEW] Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Title:  Make Way for Ducklings

Author:  Robert McCloskey

Genre:  Animals / Family / Traveling

Year Published: 1941

Year Read:  2010

Publisher:   Viking Juvenile    

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Nothing Objectionable)

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“Make Way for Ducklings” is a Caldecott Medal award-winning book by Robert McCloskey and it is about how a family of ducks tries to live in the city of Boston. “Make Way for Ducklings” is a brilliant classic book that children will read over and over again.

Robert McCloskey has done a superb job at both illustrating and writing this book. Robert McCloskey makes this book extremely cute as it is simply about a family of ducks trying to adjust to life in the city. Both children and parents can easily relate to the duck family as they try to find a suitable place to live and parents and children can relate to their own experiences about moving to a new place to live and trying to adjust to the different settings of their new home. Also, Robert McCloskey brilliantly defines the true meaning of friendship in this book as Michael, the policeman, tries his best to help out the ducklings get settled in their new home and some families do have a best friend in their lives whenever they are trying to settle into a new home and someone comes and tries to help them get adjusted into their new environment. Robert McCloskey’s illustrations are extremely beautiful as he makes the ducks and ducklings look realistic and beautiful and the images are mainly in black and white colors, indicating the old fashioned feel of this book.

“Make Way for Ducklings” is a fantastic book about the trials of moving to a new place that many children and parents can easily relate to and will be a family favorite for many years. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the length of this book might bore smaller children.

* 1942 Caldecott Medal

* 2009 Indies Choice Book Award for Picture Book Hall of Fame

[BOOK REVIEW] Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Title:  Goodnight Moon

Author:  Margaret Wise Brown

Artist:  Clement Hurd

Genre:  Family / Animals / Classic / Bedtime

Year Published: 1947

Year Read:  2010

Publisher: HarperCollins

Series: Over the Moon #2

Source:  Library

Content Rating: Ages 2+ (Nothing Objectionable) 

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“Goodnight Moon” is a classic bedtime story by Margaret Wise Brown along with illustrations by Clement Hurd and it is basically about a small rabbit is saying goodnight to all the objects and pets in his room.  “Goodnight Moon” is a true cult hit for children of all ages.

 

Margaret Wise Brown’s story is extremely cute and heartwarming as the little rabbit not only says goodnight to everything he spots in his room, but also states to the audience about the various things that he spots, similar to how the child has to find certain objects or people in the “Where’s Waldo” and “I Spy” books.  Clement Hurd’s illustrations are beautiful and creative as he makes the small rabbit’s room brightly colored as the walls are green and the carpet is red, giving the room a Christmas feel to it.  Also, Clement Hurd’s illustrations are highly creative as he makes some images such as the image of the three bears in a painting, colored in black and white while the images of the rabbit in his room are full of color.  Also, towards the end of the book, Clement Hurd makes the room look darker as the small rabbit is saying goodnight to all the objects in his room and is about to go to sleep.

“Goodnight Moon” is a true classic for children who love bedtime stories and spotting various objects in a picture.  I would recommend this book to children ages two and up since the book is extremely easy to read through and there is nothing inappropriate about the content in this book.

[BOOK REVIEW] The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton

Title:  The Little House

Author:  Virginia Lee Burton

Genre: Buildings / Time / Children's

Year Published: 1942

Year Read: 1994

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Nothing Objectionable)

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I have been going through some books from my childhood and I have stumbled upon this great gem called “The Little House.”  “The Little House” is a Caldecott Medal award winning book by Virginia Lee Burton and it is about how a small house learns the true meaning of “There’s no place like home” when a growing civilization is built around it over the years.  “The Little House” is definitely a gem that you cannot afford to miss!

When I first read this book when I was little, I thought it was a bit boring about reading about a little house just sitting there while everything around her was changing, but after reading it now, I started to see how amazing and beautiful this book really is!  Virginia Lee Burton, author of “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel,” has done a terrific job at both illustrating and writing this book as it details a little house’s experience to life in the city.  I loved the way that Virginia Lee Burton made the little house seem more like a human being than an object since the little house has to deal with the changes that happened around her and this book strongly related to me and also many children who had a similar experience since where I lived, more houses are built around my neighborhood whereas the first time we came to our neighborhood years ago, there were barely any houses in sight and dealing with this kind of experience sometimes gave me anxiety, but I eventually got used to it.  I also loved the message of the book about just having a simple life can make you happy since the book teaches children that you do not have to have a rich apartment complex or a huge house to be happy, you can just have a small house or a comfortable house that suits your needs to be happy with your life.  Virginia Lee Burton’s illustrations are just beautiful and outstanding as ever as the little house is shown to be pink and is always smiling in every image except for the images of where the little house is in the city and is miserable.  My favorite images in this book were of the scenes where the little house is shown in several different seasons like winter, fall, spring, and summer and you can see the atmosphere around the little house change as each season comes by such as in the summer, everything is green and in winter, everything is white.  I also loved the way that Virginia Lee Burton contrasted the country as a peaceful looking place by having light colors around the environment while the city is shown to be a dark and dreary looking place.

All in all, “The Little House” is a beautiful book about various changes going on in your surroundings that many children will definitely enjoy for many years!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book for smaller children. 

* 1943 Caldecott Medal

[BOOK REVIEW] Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss

Title:  Bartholomew and the Oobleck

Author:  Dr. Seuss


Genre: Humor / Fantasy


Year Published: 1949


Year Read: 2006


Series: Bartholomew

Publisher: Random House

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Some Intense Scenes)

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 “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” is the sequel to Dr. Seuss’ timeless classic “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins” and is about how King Derwin wanted to create a weather that has never been created and ends up disastrous results.  “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” is definitely a classic tale that children will enjoy for many years.

 Dr. Seuss’ story is exciting and creative at the same time, especially during the scenes where Bartholomew tries to warn everyone about the oobleck covering the town.  Even though the story is not written in Dr. Seuss’ typical rhyming text, the story is still creative enough for kids to enjoy.  Dr. Seuss’ illustrations are as creative as ever, especially as the illustrations are mainly in black and white with the exception of the oobleck which is in green which gives true effectiveness to the story making the oobleck a threat to the people in the kingdom.

“Bartholomew and the Oobleck” is definitely one of Dr. Seuss most exciting books ever created and will definitely keep many children interested in this book.  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since it might be too long for smaller children to read.

 * 1950 Caldecott Honor

[BOOK REVIEW] Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Title:  Blueberries for Sal

Author:  Robert McCloskey


Genre: Animal / Food / Humor / Family


Year Published: 1948


Year Read: 2010

Publisher:  Viking Juvenile

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Nothing Objectionable)

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 “Blueberries for Sal” is a Caldecott Honor Book by Robert McCloskey that is about how Little Sal and Little Bear wandered off from their mothers and ended up with the other’s mother during a day of blueberry picking.  “Blueberries for Sal” is a wonderful book that many children will read for many years to come.

Robert McCloskey has done an amazing job at both writing and illustrating this book.  Robert McCloskey makes this story extremely cute as it strongly relates to the typical child mix-up scenario that some parents have whenever they go on a shopping expedition with their children and their children wandered off and the parent somehow ends up with someone else’s child.  Robert McCloskey’s illustrations are extremely beautiful as the characters look realistic, especially of the images of the bears as they have shiny coats and vivid expressions displayed on their faces whenever they act surprise.  Also, the images are mainly in black and white, which gives this book an old fashioned feel to the story, even though this book was actually made during the late 40s.

“Blueberries for Sal” is a brilliant book for children who are huge fans of books that expressed the typical child mix-up escapade and who also love books done by Robert McCloskey.  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

*1949 Caldecott Honor