I Love You, Funny Bunny by Barbara Hendon, Illustrated by Sean Julian

I Love You, Funny Bunny is a sweet picture book about the special relationship between a parent and a child. Each line of rhyming text (except for one) begins with "I love" and then describes a child's attribute or action that the parent loves.

Prominently on the front cover are the words "Illustrated by Sean Julian," the spine says Julian, and the back cover flap features only his bio. To find that the text is written by Barbara Hendon, you have to look at the fine print on the title page with the copyright information.

This focus on illustration makes sense in context of the book: the text itself is simple and undetailed--short, easy to understand, and rhyming: "I love your sense of wonder, when you first see something new" (13-14). The rhymes appear on subsequent pages, making the overall rhythm less effective: "I love the times we cuddle close and share a book or two" (15-16).

In contrast, the illustrations are full of detail, telling more story than the words with vibrant colors and emotive facial expressions on both part of the child bunny and the parent bunny. Each spread has so much detail to take in, occasionally with multiple scenes displayed across the pages. Fully appreciating the illustrations would make the reading aloud pace slow, further prolonging the payout of the rhyme on the next page.

Though the book suggests that it's appropriate for ages 4-8, I would stay on the younger side of that range for optimal enjoyment of the simple text and lack of narrative story line.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, but was not required to post a positive review.

The Gift that I Can Give by Kathie Lee Gifford, Illustrated by Julia Seal

The Gift that I Can Give by Kathie Lee Gifford is an empowering picture book that shows the many gifts given by God and how children can share their gifts with the world. Told in short rhyming quatrains, through the story the narrator questions whether the gift she is given is dancing, singing, sharing while playing football, helping animals, cheering on a friend, joining a marching band, visiting someone in the hospital, or giving her family hugs. The ending includes a prayer for her to be able to share her gifts with others, and the revelation that God's love is the gift she can give. The message is encouraging: that God has given her so many gifts that she can share with others. The specific mentions of acts of services is an especially creative way of teaching children that gifts don't have to just be innate skills.

The text is in first person, but the illustrations follow a little girl through the pages, accompanied by lots of butterflies, pinks, and purples. The dust jacket also features glittery butterflies. Despite playing in to some gender stereotypes, the illustrations redeem themselves through a racially and gender-diverse game of flag football. Julia Seal's illustrations are cute and colorful and add depth to the story through little details.


The religious message that our gifts come from God is strong, as is the message that we should be sharing those gifts with others. This book encourages community engagement, friendship, and generally compassion for others, shared through a catchy rhyming verse. For these reasons, I'd recommend this book for children ages 3 to 7.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, but was not required to post a positive review.

The Cow Said Neigh! A Farm Story by Rory Feek, Illustrated by Bruno Robert

The Cow Said Neigh! A Farm Story by Rory Feek, Illustrated by Bruno Robert is a short, easy to read children's picture book with adorable illustrations. The story tells the tale of animals on the farm, each that envies something that another animal has or does, in a "grass is always greener" type way. In response, the animal makes the sound of the animal it envies, and then the next spread shows the envied animal envying a different animal. It begins with a neighing cow, as the title suggests, jealous of the way that the horse runs openly while the cow is in the barn. The un-matched animal sounds rhyme with part of the stanza that describes why they wish they were a different animal. The chain ends with a cat wishing it was the farmer and the farmer being quite startled at hearing a cat say, "hello." Going to the barn, he quickly hears that the cat isn't the only animal making unusual sounds. Though at first perplexed, ultimately the farmer decides the only logical thing to do is play along, ending the book with a "moo!"

The illustrations are very well done, In what looks like colored pencil style shadings. The expressions of the animals is the best part--they are so enthusiastic in making their new animal sound that they close their eyes and open their mouth wide to belt it out. Meanwhile the animal who traditionally makes that call is looking on with interest, curiosity, and maybe even a little concern. The animal sounds are big colorful block text that makes it pop-off the page.

This book features a dedication page at the beginning for gifting the book.

Overall, I think it's a nice shake-up of children's books that teach animal sounds and would probably be quite surprising and funny for children to read/have read to them.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher but was not required to post a positive review.

The Push: A Story of Friendship by Patrick Gray, illustrated by Justin Skeesuck and Matt Waresak

The Push: A Story of Friendship by Patrick Gray, illustrated by Justin Skeesuck and Matt Waresak is a picture book about two boys who bond over a love of baseball. One of the boys is in a wheelchair, but it doesn’t get in the way of their fun times.

John, the boy in the wheelchair, entertains his friend Marcus with jokes that are shared in the book. He also helps him with. Marcus make sure that John is always included and doesn’t have to sit out of activities. Marcus feeds, dresses, and pushes John in his wheelchair. 

“I push you in a wheelchair, but you push me to be a better person,” (26).

This book has a lot of text and small print, meant to be read to a child. I think this story would be great for a child in a wheelchair, children who go to school with someone in a wheelchair, or just any child as an example of how to be helpful and kind.

Even the illustrations live out the message of the book. On the last page there is a page called “The Story behind the Artwork,” which explains that author Patrick Gray and illustrator-friend Justin Skeesuck created this book together, not letting Justin’s inability to use his hands due to a progressive disease stop them. They found illustrator Matthew Waresak who ha a similar art style to Justin to outline the illustrations and then Justin used a voice responsive program to fill them in with watercolors. The end result is beautiful on the page, and in its message. 

I highly recommend this book for older children due to the large amount of text. Some pages have several paragraphs of around 4 sentences. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher but was not required to post a positive review.