
Price: £10.99
Publisher: Chicken House
Genre: Picture Book
Age Range: 5-8 Infant/Junior
Length: 32pp
Buy the Book
Dear Bunny
Illustrator: Caroline Jayne ChurchTwo bunny rabbits, Valentino and Valenteeny (Tino and Teeny for short), yearn for each other across a dividing stream but each is too shy to say anything. Then both hit on the idea of putting quill to paper to make tentative approaches and they post their letters in a hollow log. The post box doubles as a shelter for a family of mice flooded out of their home, and its contents – duly shredded – make perfect bedding for the homeless family. Tino and Teeny meanwhile, are distraught at the lack of response to their mail but all ends happily when the mice, using words salvaged from both letters, compose a response – a collage of words that makes perfect reading for the lovesick pair.
In these days of texting and e-mail, it is good to be reminded that ‘old fashioned’ letter writing still has its place in romance. The ‘aah’ factor is very much present in both words and pictures. There is so much to explore in the latter – both technique and perspective – and yes, it is all a touch sentimental, but after all this is ‘A Bunny Love Story’.