Easter Bunnies All Around

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter break. BookBairn enjoyed lots of cuddles from family, especially the extra days with daddy (she has spent much of today shouting "dada" despite the fact that he has returned to work), tasted lots of chocolate and read plenty of bunny stories.

If you follow the blog you will know that we are a fan of bunnies in our house with a BookBunny of her own to keep her company and a mountain of Miffy stories. Over the Easter weekend we've been extending our bunny fandom further, here are some of our favourites:

Funny Bunnies by David Melling
A while back, we posted about our favourite bears (We're Going on a Bear Hunt) and included David Melling's Hugless Douglas. Clearly, we are huge fans of David Melling in the BookBairn household as we also love his 'Funny Bunnies' series of books. The bunnies in these books are absolutely irresistible and they get up to some seriously strange antics (for rabbits) including bouncing on pogo-sticks throughout all types of weather in 'Funny Bunnies Rain or Shine'. Unlike other primer books (basic language books usually themed on a particular subject such as colours, numbers, weather, animals, etc) this book is a story filled with humour! Perfect for teaching basic weather vocabulary as well as making you giggle. The bunnies are adorable and you will be cheering them on their weather-y adventure. We also love 'Funny Bunnies Up and Down' which is full of opposites and I've now read it so many times I can recite it by heart! Many little bookbairns will certainly relate to the "bounce all day" and for lucky parents they will appreciate that they also "snore all night". A great bedtime read!
Alfie by Debi Gliori
Alfie is a cute and lovable bunny rabbit with an endless imagination! Beautifully illustrated the tales of Alfie brilliantly bring to life the strange imaginings of small children as they splash around the bath or explore the depths of the garden. These books feature pull out pages that show the world as Alfie imagines it, filled with adventure and imaginary friends such as blue elephants and pink crabs. In 'Alfie in the bath', he goes on an underwater exploration fighting off (a very cute) sea monster, discovering shipwrecks and creating quite a storm that results in Daddy-Bun having to mop the ocean up from the bathroom floor (most parents will sympathise). In 'Alfie in the garden', Alfie explores the jungle garden, escaping wild lions, sploshing water from the watering can to create puddles for the frogs and finally ending up cuddling beside his Mama-Bun to have a nap. These are wonderful books for encouraging children to explore their worlds and to play imaginatively!

Rabbit's Nap by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Having shared pictures of BookBairn enjoying this story on our social media sites, many little reading friends are loving 'Rabbit's Nap' at the moment! With lift-the-flaps on every page and characters from other Tales from Acorn Wood  books, it's no wonder they love this story. Rabbit is trying to have a nap (perhaps the little ones can sympathise) but is frequently interrupted by her neighbours. "Poor Rabbit" I hear all little bookbairns exclaim! BookBairn adores this book and loves revealing the noisy characters under the flaps (although she thinks the tortoise is a "turtle" but can't really blame her). This book, and the others in the series are excellent for little readers who prefer shorter stories before naptime: the flaps keep them engaged whist the short sentences mean they are not waiting too long for the next page. And like most Julia Donaldson books, it rhymes! Axel Scheffler creates another cast of wonderful characters in his signature style and I wonder if the animals from Acorn Wood know that there might be a Gruffalo hiding around the corner. BookBairn cannot recommend this book highly enough!

Where's Peter? (character created by Beatrix Potter)
This book is brilliant! I love Peter Rabbit and adore that this book features the illustrations true to Beatrix Potter's original characters. In this book Peter Rabbit is hiding and little readers have to lift flaps to find him discovering other characters along the way. But to add another sensory element this book is also a touch and feel book with parts of the 'feely' materials poking through the flaps allowing little ones to feel, lift, reveal and feel again. BookBairn loves this book! (And so does Mummy!)

One from the cutting room floor. It's getting harder to take her photo these days!