From the Publisher
If you are a bunny, try a taste, take a gander, snuffle a sniff, relish a sound, and share a hug.
Everything around is waiting.
If you are a boy, or a girl, or a dog, or a kitty do like our friend Bunny.
And enjoy.
Child Magazine
A young, fuzzy-eared bunny happily demonstrates the capabilities of our senses, from hearing birds sing to savoring fruits and vegetables: "Lucky tongue, taste and try this berry pie. It's a blessing!/Cabbage, spinach, bitter or sweet, a joy to eat with salad dressing." Such lively verse and intriguing artwork (a mix of watercolor, ink, and splotchy potato prints) invite children to pay attention to our incredible world. (Ages 2 to 4)
Child magazine's Best Children's Book Awards 2006
Publishers Weekly
Raschka, composer of such visual-musical interludes such as John Coltrane's Giant Steps, explores all five senses here. The "little one" of the enigmatic title is a young bunny who's urged to experience "flowers and foods, oceans and woods," in the lived environment. The alert rabbit looks ("See the sunsets, skylines, mountains,/ sidewalks, fountains") and listens ("Did we mention sounds surround you?... All that ringing will astound you"). The asymmetrical rhymes direct the rabbit to delicious experiences ("Lucky tongue, taste and try/ this berry pie") and encourage movement ("Playful paws, pounce and touch./ There is so much/ for you to feel"). Raschka creates graceful, Zen-like spreads. Minimalist brushstrokes of India ink form the rabbit's floppy ears and loose body; potato-print stamps of leaves, feathers, triangles and multicolored dots dance across the pages, and drops of watercolor paint and ink on wet paper blossom into fuzzy-edged pastel circles. The illustrations imply Raschka's focus on simplicity and natural materials, and the style could be imitated at home or in an art room. In the warm conclusion, the black-and-white spotted "little one,/ who comes from two" bounces to the waiting arms of a black rabbit and a white one; the parents join in by playing the fiddle and plucking some flowers. Raschka's easygoing rhymes and pay-attention-to-your-world theme recall Margaret Wise Brown classics like The Noisy Book, while his tactile art causes a sensation. Ages 2-5. (Aug.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1-A buoyant bunny, drawn in thick ink outline with a fuzzy body and delightfully mismatched ears (one downy and one plain), introduces readers to the senses, numbering them one through five. The rhyming verses and ebullient artwork convey a child's curiosity and enthusiasm for investigating the world in various ways: e.g., hearing is described, "Happy ears, pay attention!/Did we mention sounds surround you?/Catch the honking, barking, singing./All that ringing will astound you." After exploring all five means of perception, the youngster encounters mother and father rabbit (one drawn with thick ink outlines and the other with velvety splotches). As the family members interact, the bunny again demonstrates each of the senses-smelling a flower held by one of the adults or listening to the other play the violin. There is no text on these pages, encouraging children to identify each example by looking at the illustration, thus reinforcing the concepts. The book ends on an affectionate note, as the threesome holds hands: "Five senses-just enough-to know the love we have for you." Featuring supple ink lines, tantalizingly textured potato prints, and splashes of cheerful watercolor, the artwork is irresistible. The clean page design and graceful flow of images keep the action moving quickly. A fresh, fun, and fanciful approach to an often-requested topic.-Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
The little one is a rabbit child; the five are its senses, which it explores with ebullient confidence. "Smell is 1 / Noble nose, sniff and smell. / You do it well." No one visually communicates concepts better than Raschka, and here he's at his deceptively simple best. With illustrations reminiscent of Clare Newberry's kittens and verse that recalls Margaret Wise Brown, this stands as a beautifully artful exploration of five of the youngest child's earliest experiences. Placed against an all-white background, the rabbit, rendered in a striking combination of boldly inked lines and softly fuzzy solids, explores each sense in turn. Each sense is represented iconically, from tiny cars and barking dogs (and a barking car) to a giant berry pie for hearing and taste, respectively, and is explained by the gentle verse. Overkill in concept books is easy to do, but this wee gem is oh-so-restrained, offering up just a few illustrations for each sense. Because no little one occurs in a vacuum, this rabbit child has two parents, who appear at the end, reinforcing each sensory encounter and capping them off with love. Perfect. (Picture book. 2-5)
loading...