Quiet Bunny

My two year son was never interested in books until recently. I would try to read with him, but all he wanted to do was either turn the pages really fast or eat them. Nevertheless, I kept trying, until one day recently I read him a book about bunnies with wonderful illustrations. I was amazed, when at the end of the book he was still sitting in my lap and staring at the pages. From that day on, he has brought me books to read to him and he will sit and pay attention.

Lisa McCue is the artist behind these lovely bunny illustrations and she has just written and illustrated Quiet Bunny, published by Sterling Books. From the website:

In this beautiful picture book by renowned artist Lisa McCue, Little Bunny discovers the importance—and pleasure—of dancing to your own kind of music.
More than anything, Quiet Bunny loves the sounds of the forest: the birds chirping, the wind whispering shhhhh through the leaves, and, especially, the night song all the rabbits listen to. But, one day, he wonders: how can I join in? Bunny wanders the woods asking animal after animal—but he just can’t ch-cheet like the cricket, ssssss like the hissing snake, or o-uuuu like the howling wolves. But nothing feels just right—until Quiet Bunny finds the wonderful beat that’s his and his alone.

This really is a charming little tale that teaches the important message to just be yourself. What really makes the book however, are the beautiful, lush illustrations. Every little detail is captured vividly, with gorgeous landscapes that pull you into the world of the story. My son is enchanted by the pictures and he takes his time and points to everything on the page.

It was interesting to learn that Quiet Bunny was inspired by the artist's own childhood struggles with a speech impediment. Her experience watching her children and their friends grapple with the increased pressure of fitting in led her to write a story of an adorable bunny who is searching for his own “voice” in a forest filled with everyone else’s sounds. She remarks:

Having a slight lisp and struggling in this area my entire life, I knew I had to create a story that would help children target the key sounds needed for early speech development, reading and spelling skills.
After working with the speech language pathologist to select all of the important sounds to include in the story, I was left with the task of how. Number one, the story had to be engaging, interactive and fun so children would want to read the book over and over and over to be effective. Next, I wanted the story to have meaning and purpose. The message “Be Your Self” Is a theme that I have wanted to express ever since my own children started school, I would see so many children get caught up in the “cool” factor. Trying so hard to be like everyone else, they would lose sight of who they were.

I owe it all to this little bunny for getting my son interested in books. Now, whenever I ask him if he wants to read a book he responds with "bunny!"