Review - The Bad Easter Bunny

The Bad Easter Bunny
by Isabel Atherton
illustrated by Stéphanie Röhr
Date: 2013
Publisher: Sky Pony
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

Every spring the Easter Bunny frolics through every neighbourhood in every city to hand out candy and toys to children. The problem is he feels a total lack of gratitude from them. He's getting sadder and sadder, and in turn his once bright-pink fur has gone a depressing shade of blue. His fur really does reflect how he is feeling inside. When a group of highly excitable children knock him to the ground, he sees all of the colors of the rainbow and settles on a hopping red color. The Easter Bunny is furious! He’s tired of being taken for granted and has decided to become the Bad Easter Bunny.

He sets about smashing toys, eating all the candy, and making a big mess of the neighborhood. But a simple "thank you" from one little girl on a scooter makes the Bad Easter Bunny regret his actions. A small hug and sharing a piece of candy makes the Easter Bunny turn a happy pink, and he promises to be bad no more. In this fun and quirky children's book, Stéphanie Röhr's magical illustrations show how one good bunny turned very bad--and how important gratitude can be.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

How can a book simultaneously be preachy and also offer a terrible message? I don't know, but this book manages to do it.

The Easter Bunny is tired of being underappreciated. The thing is, the Easter Bunny isn't real, doesn't bring treats, and therefore doesn't really need to be appreciated. The book shows him interacting with children, and while that situation would require expressions of gratitude, it doesn't reflect the real world at all.

So, anyway, the Easter Bunny decides to throw a hissy fit because children are being pushy and greedy for candy. He turns red and destroys all of the Easter candy, toys, and treats. Then he feels kind of bad. A little girl on a scooter happens by, and she asks him what's wrong. When he tells her, she says, "Just because someone doesn't always say they are grateful doesn't mean that they're not." So the Easter Bunny sees the error of his ways, finds an undamaged chocolate egg, and shares it with his new friend. The book ends with quite possibly one of the most heavy-handed messages I've ever seen in a children's book, with EB realizing that being bad won't solve your problems and that "thank you" is an awesome thing to say.

Tacking on that message at the very end (it's literally the last sentence) to try to negate everything that was shown in the story doesn't work. The little girl only came along because EB had his hissy fit and destroyed everything. Without that happening, he wouldn't have come to his conclusion. So the real moral of the story appears to be: Act out your frustrations so that people can see how you're feeling and offer help. That's not a great thing to be teaching kids. We want them to be able to regulate their emotions... not rely on them for the outbursts that will be the catalysts for change. Even more disturbing is the fact that EB seems to consciously decide to be bad as a result of feeling underappreciated. There's yet another questionable message.

The illustrations are kind of creepy and not at all appealing. When I got to the part about EB turning red with anger, I wondered if maybe this was supposed to be a book for adults. (It does almost read like the ramblings of a frustrated, overworked parent who never gets a "thank you" for what they do.) But the clumsy messaging makes it pretty clear that this is a kids' title. In the e-book version I read, many of the illustrations appeared to be distorted, too, as if they were meant to be rectangular and yet had been squished into a square.

I really didn't enjoy this. But it was one of the only e-book Easter offerings our library had, other than a book that encourages kids to trap the Easter Bunny. Now that would be a good reason for that rabbit to get angry; expecting an in-person expression of thanks from children who aren't even supposed to see him in the first place seems unrealistic and entitled.

Premise: 1/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 1/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 1.33 out of 5