The forest can be a scary place, especially for the smallest animals. But two of the new Missouri Building Block nominees for 2020, “Fear the Bunny,” by Richard T. Morris, and “Shake the Tree!,” by Chiara Vignocci and Paolo Chiarinatti, turn our expectations about the natural order of the forest upside down.
”Bunnies, bunnies burning bright, in the forests of the night” – that funny twist on the famous William Blake poem, “The Tyger,” is the refrain of the animals of the forest in “Fear the Bunny.” When our protagonist, a tiger, overhears this, he corrects the other animals, saying, “Excuse me. That’s not how it goes….The poem is about ME! The most feared animal in the forest. There’s nothing scary about a bunny.” But little does he know that the bunny situation in this forest is not at all what he expects.
“Shake the Tree!” begins with a little mouse spotting a nut high up in a tree. So she shakes and shakes the tree to get the nut to fall out, but, to her surprise, a fox falls out instead! “Mmm,” the fox says, “a scrumptious mouse. I’m going to gobble you up!” But the mouse quickly runs up the tree, and the fox starts shaking and shaking until…a warthog falls out! Maybe you see a pattern emerging? Well, there is a little twist at the end that you might not guess.
Here are a few activities that parents and children can do together after reading both stories:
For “Fear the Bunny,” sing this song together to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”:
Tiger, Tiger in the Night
Tiger, tiger in the night, with his eyes so burning bright. (point to eyes)
Look and see his tail so long, swish, swish, swish with a song. (point to tail and swish)
Look and see his eyes so bright, blink, blink, blinking in the light. (point to eyes and blink)
See his stripes upon his back, just like so, orange and black. (point to back)
Tiger, tiger in the night, with his eyes so burning bright. (point to eyes)
For “Shake the Tree!” play this crafty game together at home:
- Create trees made from felt, with varying colored tops.
- Create an owl from felt.
- Hide the owl in the branches of a tree and recite the following rhyme:
Owl, owl, where do you hide? Are you in the (color) tree? Let’s peek inside! (Have the children call out a color to find the owl.)
Once you have read at least five Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award Nominees, help your child vote for their favorite. Voting is open to children in kindergarten and younger and goes through January 15, 2021.
