4th April Happy Easter with Betty Bunny

I have a family at school who discovered Betty Bunny on a visit to the library. They are regular and prolific borrowers, a mother and her two young sons who are now 4 and 6, but who have been visiting the library for over two years. When they read and love a book they come in looking for more 'by that author 'or 'more about this character'. And this is how their love for Betty Bunny began. The library only had Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake when they first borrowed it and wanted more. While I waited for another to arrive they borrowed the chocolate cake book again and again. So as each new title has been published I've made sure we have purchased them. Just before Easter, Betty Bunny Loves Easter arrived. We hurriedly covered and catalogued it and sent it home on the second last day of school with the boys for Easter. On the last day there were two excited boys at the library who just had to give me a very excited rundown about Betty's Easter book. This is what makes the job of a teacher librarian in a Prep School so special!

Betty Bunny is your typical, if somewhat precocious preschooler, so preschool children can laugh at her and her misdemeanours. There is always plenty to discuss as the result of her behaviour too. In Betty Bunny Didn't Do It, Betty tries to blame the Tooth Fairy for breaking a lamp, but Mum is always a step of Betty despite Betty's negotiating skills. Here is an interview with Betty Bunny's creator Michael B. Kaplan explaining how the series came about. The books are illustrated by Belgian born, Canadian illustrator Stephane Jorisch.

Presently there are five books and a Betty Bunny toy:
• Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake
• Betty Bunny Wants Everything
• Betty Bunny Didn't Do It
• Betty Bunny Wants a Goal
• Betty Bunny Loves Easter

27th January Chocolate Cake Day

There are a large number of picture books that feature cake and I have written about it before, but today I want to talk about a book that is very popular with my preschoolers. It is the first book in a wonderful series about Betty Bunny written by Michael Kaplan. It is called Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake. Betty Bunny is the youngest in her family and she is beginning to assert herself and make proclamations. She is hard to resist and preschoolers certainly align themselves to her. The story also has depth and touches on healthy eating and the importance of restraint and patience.

"But Betty Bunny doesn't want patience, she wants chocolate cake! In this funny tribute to chocolate lovers (and picky eaters), Betty Bunny's charming perspective on patience will be recognisable to anyone with a preschooler in their life."

Another book for preschoolers about chocolate cake is Tiberius and the Chocolate Cake by Keith Harvey and while this is not great literature when compared to something like Helen Oxenbury's cake making in It's My Birthday, it depicts a situation all to common to cake making with lots of helpers and the children laugh when they finally work out why the cake is so small.

I'm off to a birthday party today. Wonder if there'll be chocolate cake!