The best children's book I've read in ages. Loved it. Best for older kids, 7+, with no age limit upwards. Especially for kids 7+ who are tired of being spoken to as if they're 3. This is just fabulous - clever, fun, hilarious, exciting - it perfectly captures the creativity of young mind. I'm a huge fan of Jon Scieszka and this is now one of my favourites of his books - though Goodreads should list the co-author Mac Barnett and the illustrator Matthew Myers. The design and illustrations can't be separated from the words or concept. It all works together beautifully. It's a perfect picture book for older kids with a devilish sense of humour. Jon Scieszka just writes such funny books! One of my kids picked this up off the library shelf and our librarian saw him and exclaimed how fun it is. Patrick and I both read it to the kids separately. And we both read it twice -- first read it as *Birthday Bunny* and then Alex's revisions in *Battle Bunny.* I like it for how creative and silly it is. Plus, stylistically, I'm impressed at how inane Scieszka manages to make *Birthday Bunny* so that it's hard to begrudge Alex vandalizing it. I have to say it was so fun to hear Patrick read this story; he definitely read it better than I did. You can tell it's kind of a boy book. But we both enjoyed it. Two things people might want to know going in is that the character Alex did deface a book, so you may want to talk to your kids about that. And we were reading it to a five-year-old and a three-year-old and the language was kind of strong for our kids at least -- it uses the word "butt" which is what we call a "bathroom word" at our house and Alex makes his characters pretty violent. I'm not sorry we read it, but my kids were pretty fired up after words and going crazy as inspired by the story. So I do think it's something to be aware of.
What do You think about Battle Bunny (2013)?
Fun twist on an old tale. This could be a GREAT writing activity for elementary-age students.
—Kemily
