Wanda Gag, author of Millions of Cats and Gone Is Gone, or The Story of a Man Who Wanted To Do Housework, also wrote The ABC Bunny, in which the aforesaid bunnies crash and dash and meet up with all kinds of other alphabetically named forest creatures and events and objects– all the way from “A for Apple, big and red” to “Z for ZERO, Close the Book.” In this book, X, always a letter I check in alphabet books because it’s so hard find words that begin with X, is “for eXit–off, away,” with a picture of a rabbit rushing to hide in his burrow.
Really, though, I like the text in this book, but the pictures are so delightful that they could carry an entire wordless book by themselves. These illustrations of bunny rabbits doing everything that can be done by rabbits in a forest or a garden, are black and white lithographs, similar to those in Millions of Cats if you are familiar with that classic. However while the cats and the little old man and lady in Millions of Cats are exquisitely tiny and quaint, these rabbits and their fellow forest creatures are big and bold and full of dash and flash and dart. I just love them!
In the front of my book and again in the back there is music for you to sing the text as an ABC Song. I don’t sight read music, so I don’t know if the tune is catchy or not, but if you do, let me know what you think. The music was written by Wanda Gag’s younger sister, Flavia Gag. The words in the book were hand lettered by Wanda’s younger brother, Howard. And Wanda created The ABC Bunny for Gary, her small nephew. So it’s a family collaborative endeavor, shared with the world.
Alphabet books are kind of hit and miss with me. “A is for Apple, B is for Boy,” just doesn’t engage adults or young children unless there’s something added to the illustrations or the text itself to make the book more appealing and nourishing. The written story in this one is fine, well written enough to win Ms. Gag a Newbery Honor for her work in The ABC Bunny in 1934. However, I think it would have garnered a Caldecott Honor or Award, had the Caldecott been around in 1934. As far as I’m concerned, in The ABC Bunny the “eXtra” is in the pictures (and maybe the song.) Wanda Gag’s artistry was enough to make this one a Picture Book Preschool selection, one of the ten ABC books included in Picture Book Preschool.
You can check out a copy of ABC Bunny from Meriadoc Homeschool Library. Or you can purchase your own copy, brand new, since this 1933 book is actually in print from University of Minnesota Press.
Learn more about this and other living books at Biblioguides.