CM Magazine: If You Were My Bunny..

________________ CM . . . . Volume IV Number 19 . . . . May 22, 1998

Cover If You Were My Bunny.
Kate McMullan. Illustrated by David McPhail.
New York, NY: Cartwheel Books (A division of Scholastic Books), 1996.
20 pp, board book, $8.99.
ISBN 0-590-34126-X.

Subject Headings:
Babies-Fiction.
Mother and child-Fiction.
Bedtime-Fiction.

Preschool / Ages 1 - 3.
Review by Dave Jenkinson.
**** /4

excerpt:

If you were my bunny
and I were your mama,
I'd pick you out from all the other bunnies
and nestle you beside me.
Then you'd close your little pink eyes
and I'd sing you a bunny song.

This board book, with its conditional title, is actually a lullaby book. Five different animal mothers - rabbit, bear, cat, duck and dog - each describe a situation involving their offspring and then say what they would do to make their youngster's world secure, with part of that action always involving the mother's singing her child a lullaby. For example, mama bear would find honey for her cub and then, at the first hint of a storm, would bring him/her "back to our cave where I'd nuzzle you and whuffle you a song." An end note explains that each of the baby animal lullabies can be sung to a different familiar lullaby. The lyrics of the kitten lullaby, for instance, can be matched to the tune of "Rock-a-Bye, Baby" while the duckling lullaby's words will fit "Twinkle-Twinkle, Little Star." The only infant which lacks a song is the one found at the book's conclusion, the human child, who, by this time, should be fast asleep. McMullan's text and lyrics provide children with a good introduction to language presented in a loving way. McPhail's watercolour illustrations effectively represent the protective tenderness which exists between the various mothers and their children. Single parent fathers will find that "daddy" will work in each of the lullabies although the last illustration's adult human is clearly a woman.

A worthwhile personal purchase.

Highly recommended.

Dave Jenkinson teaches courses in children's and young adult literature in the Faculty of Education, the University of Manitoba.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - MAY 22, 1998.