While the title isn’t especially distinctive, this is as memorable and heartfelt as a birthday book gets. Scanlon (All the World) presents the special day through a series of questions. “What are these and what are those?” the young birthday bunny asks, pointing to clothing held up by her mother and a polo-shirted older sibling. “Fancy shoes and party clothes!” they reply, as the girl holds her skirt out while they applaud. Graegin’s (Don’t Feed the Boy) pencil and ink wash spreads show the bunny’s family and friends—foxes, owls, raccoons, and more—crowded together in one room, the children chasing after each other, the grownups looking on. “What do you mean that time just flies?” the birthday girl asks the adults curled up on the sofa with photo albums. “You’re growing up before our eyes,” they tell her, while Graegin’s faux photos show her as a swaddled infant and a just-walking toddler. This isn’t about irony; it’s pure celebration, and readers will share wholeheartedly in the pleasure. Ages 2–5. Agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Jan.)
"A little bunny asks plenty of questions on her birthday, and each time, she receives a rhyming answer.... The short lines of text read aloud well, and the page turns between questions and answers give children a chance to respond in their own ways.... This joyful introduction to birthdays focuses on a bunny who is old enough to articulate her questions but young enough to see the wonder of it all."
"In rhyming verse, a little bunny asks multiple questions about her birthday celebration (“What are these and what are those?”) and receives answers from her family (“Fancy shoes and party clothes!”)...pure sweetness.... The warm, soft tones of Graegin’s illustrations, pencil and ink digitally assembled on cream pages, evoke coziness and contentment and the little white bunny birthday girl is as cute as a button in her golden crown, saffron party dress, and beribboned shoes. The comely cast of woodland animals (including beavers, foxes, owls) resemble cuddly, plush animals, and youngsters will feel at home with the festive critters in their colorful clothing and party hats...something to tide over kids for whom a whole year seems too long to go between birthdays."
April 2013 The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
"In rhyming verse, a little bunny asks multiple questions about her birthday celebration (“What are these and what are those?”) and receives answers from her family (“Fancy shoes and party clothes!”)...pure sweetness.... The warm, soft tones of Graegin’s illustrations, pencil and ink digitally assembled on cream pages, evoke coziness and contentment and the little white bunny birthday girl is as cute as a button in her golden crown, saffron party dress, and beribboned shoes. The comely cast of woodland animals (including beavers, foxes, owls) resemble cuddly, plush animals, and youngsters will feel at home with the festive critters in their colorful clothing and party hats...something to tide over kids for whom a whole year seems too long to go between birthdays."
April 2013 The Bulletin of the Center for Childrens Books
"In rhyming verse, a little bunny asks multiple questions about her birthday celebration (“What are these and what are those?”) and receives answers from her family (“Fancy shoes and party clothes!”)...pure sweetness.... The warm, soft tones of Graegin’s illustrations, pencil and ink digitally assembled on cream pages, evoke coziness and contentment and the little white bunny birthday girl is as cute as a button in her golden crown, saffron party dress, and beribboned shoes. The comely cast of woodland animals (including beavers, foxes, owls) resemble cuddly, plush animals, and youngsters will feel at home with the festive critters in their colorful clothing and party hats...something to tide over kids for whom a whole year seems too long to go between birthdays."
April 2013 The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
* “This is as memorable and heartfelt as a birthday book gets…. This isn’tabout irony; it’s pure celebration, and readers will share wholeheartedly inthe pleasure.”
* “Scanlon delivers a sweet, rhyming text to tell the story of a little bunny’s birthday in Graegin’s debut picture book…. Perhaps taking a cue from the closing line’s reference to the girl as “sweet honey bun,” Graegin casts the unnamed central characters as a family of anthropomorphic bunnies,introducing a veritable peaceable kingdom of relatives and friends who come to celebrate on the special day. Graegin’s illustrations…mark her as an up-and-coming artist to watch, as they evoke a style akin to that of Peter McCarty, Laura McGee Kvasnosky and Polly Dunbar. Happy birthday to a splendid book for new birthday boys and girls.
Scanlon delivers a sweet, rhyming text to tell the story of a little bunny's birthday in Graegin's debut picture book. The succinct phrasing from page to page marks this as a text for very young children just learning about birthdays and birthday parties. The text takes a natural question-and-answer format as the birthday girl asks about each activity, and her mother offers loving replies. Scenes devoted to getting dressed up, greeting guests, celebrating with music and play, blowing out birthday-cake candles, opening gifts, taking pictures and looking back at past years provide an overview of the festivities. Perhaps taking a cue from the closing line's reference to the girl as "sweet honey bun," Graegin casts the unnamed central characters as a family of anthropomorphic bunnies, introducing a veritable peaceable kingdom of relatives and friends who come to celebrate on the special day. Graegin's illustrations employ pencil-and-ink washes that are then digitally assembled and colored, and they mark her as an up-and-coming artist to watch, as they evoke a style akin to that of Peter McCarty, Laura McGee Kvasnosky and Polly Dunbar. Happy birthday to a splendid book for new birthday boys and girls. (Picture book. 1-4)
