Dear Bunny by Michaela Morgan, Caroline Jayne Church (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

Tino and Teeny are two lovestruck bunnies living a mere hop, skip, and jump apart. If only they could overcome their shyness and be friends! Tino has an idea: leave a tender letter for Teeny in the hollow log. Soon after, Teeny has the same thought. But before each can discover the other's note, it starts to rain. And when a family of cold, wet mice seeks shelter in the log, what better to keep them warm than letters, chewed, chomped, and shredded just so? Luckily, the sun returns and, realizing what they've done, the matchmaking mice help Tino and Teeny piece together their true feelings.

Sheilah Egan - Children's Literature

Two shy bunnies, a family of damp mice, and a letter of love give us a heart warming look at how some "hoppily ever afters" need a little creative intervention. Tino (Valentino) lives across from the home of Teeny (Valenteeny) but has never spoken to her because they are very (to the 7th power) shy. As we see each of them write letters of friendship and place them in a hollow log, we also observe a family of mice who are being rained out of their home. They discover the hollow log with its wonderful papers and lovely leaves and petals (Teeny had left these tender morsels for Tino) and move in to be out of the rain and stormy weather. When Tino and Teeny return to the log to search for answers to their letters, they are very sad and disappointed. Only then do the mice realize what they have done and rectify the matter by making a letter out of the very best words from each of the two original letters. Tino and Teeny read the new letter, with its declaration of true love, and discover that they were meant for each other. The balloon speech of one of the mice says " Aah! I love a happy ending!" The scenes of the mice shredding the letters to make their new nest are wonderfully depicted by the illustrator. The text uses different fonts and sizes to make it leap around the pages, conveying sounds like the rain ("plip, plop, pitter, patter, sperlosh"), the wail of the baby mice as they get wet (WAAAAAAA), and the new nest itself surrounded by words of love torn from the bunnies' letters. Sweet and satisfying, this will be a charming read aloud. 2006, Chicken House/Scholastic, Ages 4 to 7.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-Valentino and Valenteeny, two timid bunnies, admire one another from afar, but their shyness keeps them from speaking. Then each one decides to write the other a letter and mails it in the local hollow log. Later, rain forces a mouse family to take refuge in that very log. To make the spot more comfortable, they shred everything they find, including the two letters. It is only when the bunnies are reduced to tears because they have received no replies to their correspondences that the mice realize what they have done. The sweet resolution to the problem results in a happily-ever-after ending. This is a charming story, perfect for Valentine's Day, though the holiday is never mentioned. The rabbits and mice are endearing characters, drawn in an appealing manner. The double-page picture of the sleeping mice surrounded by paper fragments of "Love and Warmth and Exceptional Tenderness" is especially enchanting. The large, colorful illustrations and delightful story make this a wonderful storytime selection.-Elaine Lesh Morgan, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Two lovelorn bunny rabbits named Valentino and Valenteeny ("Tino and Teeny for short") admire each other from afar, but they are too shy to move ahead with a friendship. Each rabbit leaves a letter in a hollow log for the other to find, but the letters are torn into pieces and used for bedding material by a nearby mouse family, who provide little asides to the plot in speech balloons. The kindly mice, realizing that they have thwarted Cupid, retrieve the best words from the letters and recombine them into a sweet love poem on a heart-shaped card. Tino and Teeny read the card (each thinking the other is the author), fall in love and, of course, "lived hoppily ever after." This sweet and simple story offers a fresh idea for Valentine's Day, but elementary school teachers will also use this for the creative idea of "recombinant poetry," using words plucked from other sources. (Picture book. 4-8)

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