Illustrated by Pierr Morgan.32 p., Viking, 2011.
When you hear a noise at night, it can be scary! The little bunny in this story hears all kinds of noises, and can't help imagining that they're being made by all kinds of terrible monsters. And "if that is true, what'll we do?" The bunny, BunBun (who can be interpreted as either male or female), gets comfort from a teddy bear: when the teddy bear sits quietly, in spite of the scary noises,BunBun can too. But the noises continue, and BunBun's imagination along with them. BunBun's last guess about the monster's identity - a "Two-Headed Whiney Snoop" - turns out to be close to accurate: it's BunBun's little brother, FonFon. FonFon's pull toy had been making the scary noises - and FonFon had come to see what was the matter because he'd heard thumps and bumps, which were the sounds of BunBun jumping into bed. FonFon is scared, and gets into bed with BunBun. The scary noises have an irresistible rhythm, the monster names and illustrations are wonderfully creative (just as children's imaginations are), and repetition is used with great charm and effectiveness. And there's a delicious linguistic surprise at the end, too. The richly colored illustrations on a night-black background show BunBun's emotions and perspective so clearly that we're right there in BunBun's experience. Bringing humor and delight to a frightening situation, without in the least discounting the child's fear, this story will help children understand how fear transforms ordinary situations into dangerous-seeming ones. If your child is already very anxious at bedtime, it might be best to read this story earlier in the day, at least at first.
Ages 3-7
Jacqueline - thanks are way overdue for this wonderful review of Carole's and my bedtime book, Who's There? We are both very appreciative of this blog of picture books. It's a marvelous gift to us all. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou're most welcome, Pierr! As you can tell, I think your book is wonderful.
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