CM Magazine: Tiny the Canada Easter Bunny.

________________ CM . . . . Volume XXIV Number 26. . . . March 9, 2018

cover
Tiny the Canada Easter Bunny.

Eric James. Illustrated by Sara Sanchez.
Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books), 2018.
32 pp., hardcover, $13.99.
ISBN 978-1-4926-5913-6.

Preschool-grade 1 / Ages 3-6.

Review by Dave Jenkinson.

** /4

excerpt:

“Hello,” squeaks a mouse
in his fake bunny ear.
“Oh my, how you’ve grown
since I met you last year.
I’m Marvin, remember?
You’re running quite late...
I’ll help if you like.”
Tiny nods and says,
”Great!”

They head to Toronto,
and rush through the streets,
delivering handfuls of
chocolately treats.

Next Montreal,Winnipeg,
Vancouver too.
There’s not much time left
but there’s SO MUCH to do!

It’s Easter morning, and Tiny the elephant, while out for a jog, hears a cry for help. Responding to it, Tiny finds Fluff, the Easter Bunny, stuck in a hollow log where Fluff had been hiding Easter eggs. Despite his best efforts, Tiny cannot extricate Fluff, and so he volunteers to take over Fluff’s egg delivery duties. Tiny assumes his rabbit role by first squeezing himself into a pink bunny costume and then gets off to a good hopping start, but the distances he must travel, coupled with his need to maintain his bunny persona by hopping, exhaust him, and he collapses. In his weary state, Tiny is confronted by a mouse named Marvin who points out that “Fluff” had grown since they had met the previous year. Marvin volunteers to assist Fluff/Tiny, and the pair set off, with Marvin providing increasing instructions to Fluff/Tiny while also criticizing Fluff/Tiny’s “rabbitness”. Finally, Marvin confronts Fluff/Tiny, accusing him of not being a bunny. Tiny confesses, tearfully admitting that “I thought I could do the / things that real bunnies do.” And Marvin’s advice?

You need to start using the talents you’ve got. Be proud to be YOU. Don’t be something you’re not!”

And so Tiny uses what he’s got - his trunk - and finishes the egg delivery route before returning to Fluff and, water-cannon like, successfully ejecting the Easter Bunny from the log.

Tiny the Easter Bunny, with Sanchez’s cartoon-like illustrations, is a simple, fun read that also contains a subtle moral. What’s that? I missed the word Canada in the book’s title? When a book’s “Canadian” content consists only of labels (A “Canuck Runner” labelled sweatband on a jogging Tiny and a shop carrying a “The Canada Chew” sign) and Canadian place names are randomly inserted into James’ poetry, then the book, at best, can only be labelled as “Canada Lite”. Though Sanchez does place a few Canadian buildings into her backgrounds, only a handful of the book’s intended audience will likely recognize any beyond the Parliament Building.

The closing endpapers invite readers to find the Easter eggs hidden in the picture. Purchase Tiny the Canada Easter Bunny if your collection needs more Easter books and not because it requires more Canadian content.

Recommended with Reservations.

Dave Jenkinson, CM’s editor, lives in Winnipeg, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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