Bunny Vs. Monkey, lays the ground for elementary graphic novel gold

Spy Vs. Spy was my jam growing up. Even when I was well past an emerging reader status, the simplicity of their wordless adventures, combined with the humor that I wanted Mad Magazine was the stuff of legend. Bunny Vs. Monkey offers up some of those same feelings but is collected in an elementary school package that’s shorter, more colorful and a graphic novel. Many people will compare Bunny Vs. Monkey to Dog Man, which is accurate to a point, but the latter has one has more of a staccato presentation which is well-suited to its young audience.

That short presentation is more in line with Spy Vs. Spy, however with Bunny Vs. Monkey the shorter stories are contained and add up to a larger narrative. The graphic novel starts off with an epilogue where we meet Bunny and his friends who live in an idyllic forest setting. Bunny establishes himself as a kind creature who seems to be the smartest in his group of friends. Readers will briefly see some humans, who are scientists and have buckled Monkey into a sphere that’s going to be launched into space.

The sphere is launched, but instead of going to a far-away planet, it simply goes over a mountain range. Monkey isn’t aware of his short trip and emerges from the sphere thinking that he’s on an alien planet with species that require kid gloves and a shoot-before-you-think mentality. He proceeds to make the forest his own experimental party where he’s the noisiest, messiest creature who tries to push his ways of doing things upon the rest of the animals.

The graphic novel is broken up into seasons, with Monkey crash landing in spring and the stories evolving over the next twelve months. The seasons don’t factor in to the storylines, but the transition does help display to young readers that the story is moving and that they need to pay attention. Each vignette is told over four pages and concentrates on one main objective. Monkey discovers a computer, bunny encounters an angry mole underground or something funny or action-filled that propels the greater story.

The greater story is that the animals in the forest learn to get along and become aware of the humans. This allows Monkey to shine because he thinks that he knows everything about the humans, after all, he’s the only one in the group that has directly dealt with them. Elementary students will flock to Bunny Vs. Monkey. The absurd idea of these two cute animals having animosity towards one another is funny. The forest has ample opportunity for jokes and various setups that will make those ages 5-10 laugh.

However, this is funny stuff that will be exclusive to elementary school. There might be a couple middle school students who are still reading Bunny Vs. Monkey, but they’ll be the exception. For those folks, it’ll be their reading comfort food or inspiration for them to cartoon doodle, both of which are cool. The four-page stories, combined with its pacing will be perfect for those younger ages who need to learn to love reading. The soft visuals and playful tone will make those ages want to read more, while the visuals will propel the story and fill in any gaps as they catch up to their reading level.

Bunny Vs. Monkey is by Jamie Smart and is available on Union Square Kids.

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