Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems

2008 Caldecott Honor Book

All of the Knuffle Bunny books show a mix of black and white pictures and colored drawings, which present a mix of fantasy & reality. The backgrounds are always photos, with the people and the bunnies always portrayed in drawings.  This shows that the place is real but the characters are fictional.  The stories are set in the city (specifically, Brooklyn), which I find to be nice, as many children’s books are set in the suburbs or a small town.  However, the photos show familiar sights that children from many backgrounds will recognize – a barber shop, school room, and playground.  Another fun feature is the family photos portrayed on across the title page – Mom & Dad’s wedding day, the birth of Trixie & so on.  It provides readers with a sense of the story of the family, a connection to the previous book (if readers have read it) and a connection to the type of photos that children may see in their own homes.

I love that Mo Willems books appeal to both kids & adults.  His books always have both subtle humor that appeals to parents & broad humor that appeals to children. The scene in which Trixie realizes that the bunny in her possession is NOT her Knuffle Bunny is classic – The father’s desperate plea, “Can we deal with this in the morning?” along with the expressions on dad’s face and the mom’s raised eyebrow form an unspoken adult conversation in the facial expressions that most adults will recognize.  As mentioned in Children's Literature, Briefly, an artist can use illustrations to provide a subtext that the goes beyond the words of the text (Tunnell, Jacobs, Young, & Bryan, p.32).

There is much in the story that children will recognize -- the family “in jokes” like the bedtime ritual of “Mommy & Daddy robots from Planet Snurp!”  as well the pride in their favorite toy or stuffie (and the importance of always having that “best friend” with you at all times). 

There is nice character progression of Trixie and Sonja from having their bunnies as their main friend to forming friendships with other children, showing the maturation of the characters.

This book is especially well suited for read-alouds with parents, though 1st grade and up will probably be able to read it on their own.