Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale

Mo Willems’ Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale is the story of a little girl named Trixie, who takes a trip to the Laundromat with her father. While helping her Dad, Trixie misplaces Knuffle Bunny, her best friend. Upon realizing this, Trixie becomes upset. She does her best to tell her father, but he doesn't seem to understand. When Trixie returns home, Mom immediately recognizes the problem. The whole family searches for Knuffle Bunny, who is hiding in the washing machine.

Being the mother of a one year old, this book warms my heart. Mo Willems' humor and use of characterization make this story an enjoyable read and, no doubt, one with which children and parents will connect. In addition to loving his wit, I also enjoy the show more author-illustrators' art. Willems uses photographs to create the world in which Trixie and her family live. However, the people in this world are cartoon characters who pop off the page, filled with personality.

I think Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale is appropriate for students in Kindergarten through 3rd grade. Although this story can surely be read for enjoyment, it also provides an opportunity to discuss how we feel when we lose something or someone that we love. show less

This simple tale of losing your favorite childhood stuffed animal is deeply relatable for most children, even if they don't have a favorite stuffed animal, all kids have some object they value over all others, and they also seem to inevitably lose it at least once. My Knuffle Bunny was a stuffed dog named Doogan, my kid's Knuffle Bunny was a blue teddy bear named Blue Bear, I'm pretty sure we all have something. The art style is very interesting in this book as well, as they superimposed purposefully flat 2D representations of the characters on top of 3D photographs of the settings. This gives the whole book the feeling of a child's memory and makes it even more relatable.

Oh no! An ordinary trip to the laundromat for toddler Trixie and dad goes wrong when Trixie’s beloved stuffed animal is left behind. I enjoyed that this book warns us of what can happen when communication isn’t understood. The theme is clearly things lost and found, but it’s nice to see it shown not told — largely because Trixie is not talking yet, she’s babbling, so what has gone wrong is much more unclear. I liked seeing that dad is the one going to the laundromat, which is a nice gender role reversal. Unique illustrations combine high-quality, nicely composed black and white photography with sweet and goofy doodles. Intriguing end papers show knuffle bunny in the washing machine!

This book is all around great. I could see reading this to a class, but I see it being great fun at home. Oh the trouble that occurs when Daddy is in charge. It makes me think of when my ballet students come to class with crazy messy hair and the excuse "moms out of town... dad did my bun". This is a funny and cute book to share with students or children and it is great for making predictions. I love Mo's method of illustrating in the knufffle bunny books. The combination of photographs and his iconic illustrations is brilliant. Definitely a skill that students could practice themselves. It would be a fun artistic connection to the text to give them each a photo and have them illustrate a character and develop a scenario.

There are several reasons I liked this book. To start out, the story is a cautionary tale that we have all experienced at one point about losing a prized possession. One day Trixie went on an errand to the Laundromat with her dad. They walked past the school and through the park while Trixie carried her Knuffle Bunny by her side. On the way back however, she noticed her Knuffle Bunny was missing and immediately began to get upset. At the end of the story however her dad found the bunny in the washing machine with the clothes they took to get clean. Both children and adults can relate to misplacing something close to us only to find it where we last were safe and sound. If the object is something we identify with we even experience the show more same motions of being upset and panicked just like Trixie did because Knuffle Bunny was her favorite toy. I also liked this book because the illustrations of the characters were placed on photographs of real places. For example, when we see Trixie and her dad walking through the park, Trixie and her dad are drawn and placed on a photograph of a path surrounded by trees. The photograph backgrounds was a unique way to depict scenery that I have not yet experienced in other books and therefore it added to the story for me because I could easily put myself in each photograph as a if it was a real place close by. show less

I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I liked it because the big take away that I got from the book was its illustrations. The illustrations displayed the different settings with real pictures as well as cartoons mixed in with them. While looking through the book I noticed the illustrations on the front and back inside of the book, the illustrations showed a timeline of the family up until Trixie, the little girl, was born. I liked the way the author wrote the text on each page because it guides the reader exactly how the author intended for it to be read. The characters in the story were well developed because most people could relate to this book if they have ever lost something that was very important to them. show more Through this book, it shows how emotions can change very quickly with a small turn of events. After reading the book, I had a difficult time understanding the main message of the book, although I did my best to uncover the meaning behind it. From my understanding, the main message of the book was that children have objects that they become attached to and without those objects they get upset. While it was not my favorite book, I could see how this could be a great book to use with children because everyone loses things, just like Trixie left Knuffle Bunny at the laundry mat, and sometimes need to look for where they left them. show less

Fuzzy and Owen, Owen and LeLe, and now Trixie and Knuffle Bunny. It's a world of children and their comfort things. There's nothing sadder or more miserable than a kid who is separated from his comfort thing, and this book offers no exception. Trixie and her dad live in New York and make a trip to the laundromat. While they are loading the clothes into the washing machine, Knuffle Bunny inadvertently (or maybe not so inadvertently) ends up in the washing machine. As they begin their walk home, Trixie realizes that she no longer has her Knuffle Bunny, and she immediately begins to tell her father that she doesn't have KB, but Trixie doesn't have words yet. She speaks in baby and her father doesn't understand a word she's saying. To show more emphasize her panic, Trixie stirs up quite a fuss all the while her father is dragging her back to their house. When mom comes out of their apartment she notices -- as most moms would -- that something is amiss and she immediately says, "Where's Knuffle Bunny?" And then the hunt is on.

This is a cute book that will appeal to smaller children, some of whom bring their little bunny, cat, clown, or blanket to class with them. They've all lived the fear and worry of not being able to find their Knuffle Bunny, so they have an immediate connection to Trixie. This tale is not lost on the kids.

Visually this book is really different and very entertaining. Mo Willems departs from his usual drawings to a combination of photographs of background and cartoon characters making their way through the photographs. The background is in black and white and the cartoon characters are in color. This is a really cool effect of real and unreal on each page. Because of these innovative and intriguing visuals, I think it meets the criteria for the Caldecott. The story probably would've been just as good if it had all been drawings, but the photographs really do lend a new, fresh and interesting perspective to the story.

One of the endearing things about this book is that I can feel Trixie's panic at not knowing where her Knuffle Bunny is heart wrenching. As I mentioned, first there was Owen and Fuzzy in the book Owen (Kevin Henkes), and then there was my Owen and his LeLe who reminded me everyday how important comfort items were. But before Owen and LeLe, I had Ellis and his blanket, Naney. I learned early on with Naney being dragged all over town, in the yard, around the house, in the car and virtually everywhere we went, she became dirty and pungent after a period of time. The dirt was troublesome, the pungent smell not so bad because she smelled just like the sweetness of my son. Sweet, earthy and boy-like. Every once in awhile she had to be washed -- who knew what was growing inside her? The trauma my son went through when I put his Naney into the machine that flooded and banged around was unbelievable. Tears and sobs would come from the laundry room until the last of the dry cycle was complete. And then there would be a warm and cuddly reunion between my son and his Naney. At first he didn't like having her clean -- she smelled funny (if you consider the light fresh scent of Tide to be funny). She most decidedly didn't smell the way she did when she went into the banging machine (I had to agree). Within an hour or so of constant hugging and not being parted, Naney quickly returned to her original Ellis fragrance. All was good for at least a couple of weeks until laundry time came again.

So I have to wonder.....was Trixie's dad truly clueless that Knuffle Bunny was in the washing machine, or was he attempting to win an Academy Award in the interest of public health? show less