Quill and Quire

REVIEWS

« Back to
Book Reviews

I Spy a Bunny

by Judy Dudar; Richard Rudnicki, illus.

Mandy, a little blonde girl with a jones for colour, goes to see her Aunt Carla for a weekend of fun, sun, and cookies. They head out to White Point Beach in Nova Scotia and immediately start up a game of I Spy. Mandy sees all kinds of colours, and especially all kinds of things that are white, but keeps missing the white nose of the black bunny that is shadowing the two of them.

I Spy a Bunny, former Halifax schoolteacher Judy Dudar’s first book, is all about paying attention to one’s surroundings, taking in details, and maintaining a sense of curiosity about the world. (It is also a kind of tribute to the beauty of Nova Scotia’s beaches.) The story is dead simple, with few background details – we’re never told why Mandy is with her aunt, and it doesn’t really matter. The prose itself is mostly straightforward, as well, though it occasionally edges toward the flat-footed. Similarly, Mandy and Carla’s interactions are gentle and loving, but lack zip – which would, admittedly, present less of a problem for readers at the bottom of the suggested age range.

Richard Rudnicki, who illustrated the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award-winning Gracie, the Public Gardens Duck, provides spreads that are filled with colour and sunlight. The white-nosed bunny is not exactly hard to find in the beach pictures, but kids will love spotting him each time nonetheless.

This is a quiet charmer.

 

Reviewer: Nathan Whitlock

Publisher: Nimbus Publishing

DETAILS

Price: $17.95

Page Count: 32 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 978-1-55109-700-8

Released: April

Issue Date: 2009-6

Categories: Picture Books

Age Range: 4-8

Tags: , ,