Module 1 - The Runaway Bunny

Summary

This book is an exchange between a mother bunny and a baby bunny.  The baby bunny is planning grand adventures that lead him away from his mother bunny.  He tells her what he will become or do to get away and see the world.  In response, she tells him how she will join him in his adventure so that she can always be with him.  In the end, he decides it will be easier to stay by his mother's side as a bunny.

My impressions

Personally, I did not enjoy this book.  I feel like the little bunny is trying to grow and make his way in the world, and that his mother's intent to join him is a hindrance to his exploration.  This is probably colored by personal experience - my own mother tends to hover which I find frustrating.  It was hard for me to read this book without putting myself in the little bunny's shoes.

Reviews

School Library Journal includes the book on its list of top 100 picture books but notes the tension between people who find the book comforting and reassuring, and people who are uncomfortable with the mother bunny's infringement of the baby bunny's growth.  Because this book was originally published in 1942, current reviews were difficult to locate.

Use in a library

Whatever my personal feelings about this book, I think it could work well in a library.  This book could be part of a program for Mother's Day, with a  craft session for kids to make cards or homemade gifts for moms.  It could also be used as a silly way to end a program on rabbits, maybe in a series about animals.  Kids could be shown non-fiction books on rabbits and then this fiction treatment of rabbits.  Not only would it finish the program on a lighter note, but it might be fun to ask the kids to compare the behavior of the non-fiction rabbits to the fiction bunnies.

References

Bird, E. (2009). Top 100 Picture Books (#71-75). School Library Journal.  Retrieved from http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2009/04/07/top-100-picture-books-poll-results-75-71/.

Brown, M. W. (2005). The Runaway Bunny. New York, NY: HarperCollins.