Battle Bunny- creative & twisted children’s book at its best

As a child I remember getting a book or two that I didn’t want to get. It was boring, too young and intended for the child that they thought I was, instead of the boy that I had become.   Battle Bunny takes that premise, turns it on its head and manages to make one of the most enjoyable children’s books that my wife and I have seen this year.

Battle Bunny is not your traditional children’s book.  It’s more of a brilliant creative exercise as opposed to a linear story that children will enjoy.  Children will still enjoy Battle Bunny, but it’ll probably be the older children who understand and appreciate more complex humor.  Having said that, some kids will like reading Battle Bunny just for the illustrations and its ridiculous plot.

Battle Bunny is actually a children’s book called Birthday Bunny.   In Birthday Bunny the title character hops around the forest on his birthday looking for his friends and some birthday presents.  However, the book was given to Alex, a typical 9 year old boy who realized that Birthday Bunny was lame and not age appropriate so he draws pictures throughout the book, thus changing Birthday Bunny to Battle Bunny.

It’s a bit confusing isn’t it?  It’s made even more confusing because of how well done the book is.

“What’s this book”, my wife said at the table.

“Oh, it’s Battle Bunny, it arrived today”, I said.

“Well, why is it inscribed to some kids named Alexander”, she asked.

“I don’t know”, I said as I continued to eat dinner.  I really had no idea why the book was inscribed by this kid’s grandmother.  I assumed that the person at the PR person put the wrong book in the mail.

No, it’s just a very clever detail that sets up the entire premise.  Once Birthday Bunny becomes Battle Bunny he still celebrates his birthday, but does it because he receives super powers over his enemies on this special day.

Battle Bunny then goes through the forest fighting his friends, chopping down trees, practicing wrestling moves and destroying world landmarks.  It isn’t until the President sends Alex to fight Battle Bunny that it looks like he’ll be defeated.  Bunny controls the animals in the forest with his birthday spell and they lay some ninja moves on Alex.  Thankfully, it’s Alex’s birthday too and he has the same super powers that Battle Bunny has!

The combination of ‘hand drawn’ characters, side story and edited dialogue make this book so much fun to read.  We let a 9 year old girl read it and she was a bit confused.  Thankfully, like me, she thought that our 4 year old son had drawn all through it.  Once we explained it to her she still didn’t enjoy it too much, but could laugh at some of the pictures and side stories.

An 11 year old would understand the humor in this the first time out.  It’s awesome and really brings such a smile to your face when you read it.  The illustrations that Alex does are spot on, exactly those that a young boy would do that I vividly remember doing them too.

So is Battle Bunny for children or adults?  It’s for adults who read lots of children’s books, as well as, children who like to read truly off the wall wonderful stories.