Knuffle Bunny

Willems, M. (2007). Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale. Illus. Mo Willems. New York, New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Brief Annotation: In this Knuffle Bunny edition, Trixie goes to school and brings her knuffle bunny for show and tell. To her dismay, another girl in her class has the same knuffle bunny. This creates arguments between the two girls so the teacher keeps both bunnies until the end of the day. It wasn’t until the middle of the night that Trixie realized that she has the wrong knuffle bunny. Her dad met the other girl’s dad in the middle of the night to exchange knuffle bunnies. The two girls became best friends and ended up sharing their knuffle bunnies with each other anyway.

Genre: Picture book

Grade Level: Pre-K-1

Readers who will like this: Young readers who can relate to having a special “something” like a blanket or stuffed animal.

Response/Rating (1-4): **** I love this book/series. Trixie is the girl who is seen in any young child. She loves her knuffle bunny and does everything with it, so she knows when she has the wrong knuffle bunny; her bunny doesn’t feel right and she can’t sleep so she needs her own bunny right away. The pictures are amazing as the background pictures are real black and white pictures (the school, home, outside areas) and the characters and a few detailed elements are animated and colored. This is a wonderful book that any child and grown-up would love to read.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: Do you have something special that you love to be with and take with you where ever you go?

Reading Strategies Connection: “All About…Books”- In this activity, students will put together a booklet, about four to five pages, on a familiar topic. This can be a book about their own “knuffle bunny” or something/someone they really love. They will write why they love that object, what they do with it, where they got it, etc. On each page the students will write a sentence about that object and then draw an illustration for each page.

This activity is easy and fun for the students; it enhances their writing skills and ability and once they get better at writing, their sentences can be turned into paragraphs. This will help make relating to the story easier, which will make the story more fun to read. I like this activity because it becomes meaningful as students are writing on their own “knuffle bunny” and are working on literacy skills at the same time.