this is a wonderful idea: take a sappy book with a trite story and a heartwarming message and MAKE IT SO MUCH BETTER BY ADDING WEAPONS AND ESSPLOSIONS!!this is was a story about a little bunny on his birthday. he woke up soooo excited that he was going to see all his friends and they would throw him a party and he would get presents and everyone would shower him with attention and cake. but oh no! looks like everyone forgot it was his birthday because they have other things going on in their liv...

Full review at: http://www.unleashingreaders.com/?p=2447This picture book would be so much fun as a read aloud (original story than the modified one). Also, I can also picture bringing in picture books (maybe older ones or bought at a used book store) and letting the students modify their own! How much fun!This book made me laugh out loud! What a perfect insight into the mind of a young boy (reminds me of so many doodles I’ve seen on papers over the year!). Also, I was blown away by the creativi...

Another brilliant idea. My class are begging me to keep bringing it in so they can read it themselves - they want to try and find the little details that adorn this book for themselves. Well worth adding to any children's collection.

Booklist Reviews *Starred Review* This deliciously subversive piece of metafiction skewers—with a sharp wit and a sharper pencil—the earnest, purposeful literature so popular in the middle of the last century. The fun begins with a facsimile of something akin to an antique Little Golden Book, Birthday Bunny, complete with worn cover, yellowed pages, and wholesome message. But the book has been "improved" in story and pictures by a child named Alex wielding his trusty no. 2. The cover, retitled B...

So, so funny and clever. Laurie, I was thinking of giving this to Iris for her birthday but since I decided on something else in the end, now you guys should get it from the library if you haven't already. You will all love it.I think format stuff will probably keep this off both Newbery and Caldecott lists, and probably Geisel too, but it deserves a wide readership.

Recommended by someone on Twitter and having already found myself a huge Scieszka fan after The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, I loved this book from the very first page onwards (or even the front cover) for the very clever play it does with form and style. Originally a book meant for a young boy as a birthday present, it finds its schmaltzy, sickening narrative completely defaced by the owner in which Birthday Bunny becomes Battle Bunny and undergoes a series of deadly escapad...

Brilliant. I can imagine bringing in Little Golden Books and inviting my students to revise the book into original stories.

I don’t remember where I saw the recommendation for this book, but thank you, unknown book reviewer, for introducing me to this stinkin’ adorable, yet subversive, little children’s book. The book is presented as a sickly sweet kiddie book about a birthday bunny who wanders sadly around the forest, meeting various friends who don’t seem to care that it’s his birthday, until *surprise* they have a party for him and HEA. Except that Alex has no use for this gift book from Grandma, and he “improves”...

This title gets full points for its highly appealing "revision" to make a book absolutely kid appreciated. Mind you, not just kid, as my husband read it and instantly wanted to buy a copy for his father for Christmas! It is the creative license that this book celebrates - the humour, the scribbles, the reinventing of a character . . . that I love. Also worth noting - I showed the book trailer to my class and they ask me about 15 times a day if I have bought the book yet! (Can't wait to book talk...

Both a fun story that most young children will enjoy for its irreverence, and also a sly critique on contemporary literacy. Like a picture book version of JJ Abrams's S. Dual narrative, each informing the other, creating a third story-space that belongs to the reader. So much food-for-thought here...

Young children do not always have the best poker face so when they are given a gift they don’t really want, they may not spare your feelings. The little boy who received Birthday Bunny was seriously unimpressed, so much so that he has taken out his pencils and rewritten the story. Gone is the tale of a rabbit trying to work out if any of his animal friends have remembered his birthday and instead we get an epic battle of bunny versus the animal kingdom.‘Battle Bunny’ by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barn...

Again, another children's book beats almost all the other fiction books I've read this year. Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett and illustrated by Matthew Myers is great. Jon Scieszka writes kids' books that are creative, inventive, and funny. He takes traditional tales and subverts them to be smart and appealing to both children and the adults who have to read them to children. Battle Bunny is the story of a Bunny who is sad because his forest friends haven't recognized that today is

My poor disturbed 4-year-old nephew kept asking, "why did someone write in the book?" My 10 year-old son's response to the book was, "That's pretty cool. I want to do that and change the story of a book too. Do you have one I can write on?"Those two responses can create a problem. Regardless, it's a very funny book. The dynamic duo of Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett never fails to put on a great show that is sure to entertain!The story can be overwhelming and confusing to read with all the "graffit...

Also at educating alice. (Written back in May, but forgot to post it here until now when I saw Betsy's review.)I am a big fan of subversive books, say the "recommended inappropriate books for kids" featured in Lane Smith's Curious Pages.  That said, I also have observed that kids respond better to some of these more than others, an issue I explored years ago in a Horn Book article "Pets and Other Fishy Books." So when I ran into Jon Scieszka a few months ago and he excitedly told me about the fo...

Admittedly, I'm a Jon Scieszka fangirl (I'll even admit to clandestinely taking a stalker-esque photo of him when I saw him in the book room at the NCTE a couple years ago), so I was pretty much determined to love this book no matter what. The premise is in Scieszka's typically subversive vein: here, a kid named Alex has overwritten a sappy picture book, "Birthday Bunny," given to him by his grandma…or "Gran Gran," as she inscribes the title page. Alex has not only retitled the book "Battle Bunn...

Love the idea of remaking a book, but I was seriously underwhelmed by the execution. It's like mixing a little golden book and axe cop, and it could have been so much more. Instead of taking something hokey and making it violent, I sort of wish that it had just taken something basic and made it more complex, if that makes sense.

Remember Duck Amuck? I am referring of course to that old Looney Tunes short where Daffy Duck came to the realization that his fourth wall is a bit . . . faulty. Watching that short, as Daffy is being rubbed out of existence by an eraser I like to think about those kids seeing the short for the first time. Maybe amongst them there are some kids who feel this is a keen bit of transgression. Maybe some are shocked by the fact that unspoken rules are being broken left and right. Or (more likely) ma...

After reading Jon Scieszka’s famous children’s books “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales” and “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs,” I was really excited to check out some of Jon Scieszka’s latest works! Lo and behold, I happened to stumble upon one of Jon Scieszka’s most recent children’s book “Battle Bunny (or Birthday Bunny),” co-written by Mac Barnett along with illustrations by Matthew Myers (along with some help from Alex) and this was a pretty interesting read! Stor...

Brilliant "altered" book that turns a sugary sweet birthday book into a violent quest for absolute power. Fun for all ages.

4.5 stars rounded up. The concept is so very brilliant, but the strain of reading the book doesn't yield a big pay-off for me. But then, I'm not an eight yo boy. I'm unsure, too, if this has shelf appeal, because it looks *exactly* like an old, scuffed, defaced baby story. Alex. the main character, is going places, though; he's so imaginative and talented.And you and your kids can, too. Go to www.mybirthdaybunny.com and make your own version. Or go to a thrift store and find your own re-writable...