Britta Teckentrup’s Busy Bunny Days: In the Town, On the Farm, and At the Port is an adorable homage to Richard Scarry’s Busytown books.
Each Bunny Day begins with a page on which every named character in the story is shown as they appear in that particular story, and labeled with their name. Some of these characters, such as the titular Bunny Family (Grandma, Dr. and Mrs. and their leverets, Baxter and Bethany) and Benny Badger (as in “that pesky Benny Badger”), appear in every tale. Others occur in one tale but not others, as the Bunny family visits different sites.
The illustrations of the setting throughout each tale do not significantly change, with the exception of Busy Bunny Days at the Port, where ships constantly dock and depart. This background is not static, however, but is enlivened by the constant flow of characters through every scene, and by the atmospheric changes as each day progresses from morning to noon to evening to night. The activity changes each page so much that the fact that the basis of each page is essentially constant throughout one story goes almost unnoticed in the wonderful weaving of characters, activities, and places. There is a strong sense of place, not only in each story, but in nooks of each story. In Busy Bunny Days at the Farm, for example, the barn hayloft provides a strong sense of continuity; characters come and go, but the hayloft remains stable, though changing as different characters pursue diverse activities within it which range from hide-and-seek to the birth of kittens.
The top left corner of each doublespread guides the reader by depicting a clock which reveals what time of day it is in the fictional world. This is complemented with a statement of the time and what, in general, is going on (“Grab an umbrella! It is 12 o’clock, and the rain is rolling into town!”), followed by three questions about what is going on in the scene. Sometimes these questions are about specific characters (where is… who is… what is…); occasionally the questions are about the scene in general (how many…). Where these questions excel is in the way they refer to the previous page, thus testing the reader’s observation – for example, on one page a character leaves candles unattended on the balcony; on the next page firefighters douse the fire and the question is “Whose home has caught fire? How did the fire start?” The water from the firehoses is shown in the following page to have caused a drip into the bedroom below, at which the reader is asked what caused the leak.
As befits a book with the word “busy” in the title, each page is indeed very busy with colour, characters, and activity. There is plenty to look at on every page. The spacing and cheerful depictions are not overwhelming, but are beautifully done. Readers can enjoy the adventures of the Bunny family and their friends, and click their tongues in delighted shock at that rascally Benny Badger.
I would recommend this, particularly if you enjoy Richard Scarry’s books.
The copy that I reviewed came from Nafiza, who got it from the publisher. In the interests of transparency. :)
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