Knuffle Bunny

Title:  Knuffle Bunny

Author: Mo Williams

Illustrator: Mo Williams

Publisher:  Hyperion Books for Children

Genre: Caldecott Honor Book

Level: Primary

Number of Pages: 32

Pub. Date: 2004

Summary: Trixie and Knuffle Bunny's trip to the Laundromat with Dad goes terribly wrong when Trixie realizes her bunny has been left behind. Her attempts in gibberish words to alert Dad all the way home are unsuccessful, until they get home and her mom points out that Knuffle Bunny is missing and the family rush all the way back to the Laundromat. They search all over and it seems like Knuffle Bunny is gone forever when her dad finds her in the washer and Trixie says her first two words: “Knuffle Bunny!”

Critique: The Caldecott Honor winner uses a very unique type of illustrations, which really make it stand out. I think the best design element in this book is the placement of art. The images in this

book are a combination of hand-drawn ink sketches and digital photography in a computer where the sketches were colored and the pictures were given a sepia tone, making the illustrations really stand out, but look like they are in a realistic setting. The author also puts black lettering on a green background to make it really stand out when it changes throughout the story, like when Trixie realized that bunny was gone, the word ‘realized’ is bigger than the rest of the words in the sentence or when she is trying to make her dad understand her gibberish is in white speech bubbles.

Response: Honestly, from this whole project, Mo Willems is my new favorite author. This book is hysterical, just like Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and I am so excited to read more of his works. His visions about how the illustrations should be done in this book are also really impressive to me and one of my favorite features.