The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol. The book has a strong beginning but a weak ending that peters out and turns both didactic and puzzling still the message of being true to one’s nature is one many children need to hear.Ī nice addition to the identity and acceptance bookshelf. Unlike many stories of differentness in which the characters just want to fit in, here the characters are happy to be who they are-it is others who must come to accept them. Only this rabbit is more than a rabbit: she looks like a rabbit but feels like a bear-she is Grizzlybun! And so starts a friendship of two who look one way on the outside but feel another way on the inside.

Alone and bewildered-he doesn’t feel like a bear, but he doesn’t look like a rabbit-he is at a loss. Even though they are “tiny and fluffy and bouncy, like Bunnybear’s heart,” the rabbits find him as odd as the bears did and tell him to leave.

So he leaves home and eventually finds himself looking down a rabbit hole. The other bears don’t understand him and deem him odd. But when he is alone, he bounces, wiggles his nose, and nibbles on strawberries. Whimsical, cheery illustrations tell the story of a bear who looks like most bears. A sweet story of friendship and acceptance.

Bunnybear by Andrea J. Loney