CM Magazine: Earn It! (A Moneybunny Book).

________________ CM . . . . Volume XXIV Number 27. . . .March 16, 2018

cover
Earn It! (A Moneybunny Book).

Cinders McLeod.
New York, NY: Nancy Paulsen Books (Distributed in Canada by Penguin Books), 2017.
32 pp., hardcover, $22.99.
ISBN 978-0-399-54444-6.

Preschool-grade 2 / Ages 4-7.

Review by Dave Jenkinson.

** /4

excerpt:

You know Bun, bunnies don’t just get famous overnight.

Why not?

Well, you have to work at it.

How do I start?

You could take singing lessons.

But lessons COST money...

In the world of rabbits, carrots are currency, and Bun wants more than her two carrot-a-week chore-related allowance. “I want to be RICH and FAMOUS!” she declares, deciding that her love of singing will be her route to fame and fortune. Bun’s practical mother, pointing out that Bun will need carrot-costing singing lessons, offers her additional paying chores, something that doesn’t exactly excite Bun. And Mom also points out that fame, and its accompanying fortune, do not happen overnight - Bun will have to practice, practice, practice her singing. Mom keeps adding other obstacles that Bun will need to overcome before she becomes “RICH and FAMOUS”, but, according to Mom, when Bun does achieve that goal, “...then you’ll know that...you earned it!”and that feeling may be “even as good as being rich and famous!”

Given the book’s intended young audience, the practicality of Mom’s “message” comes across as being a real buzzkill. Yes, everything Mom says is completely valid, but Mom needs to take a chill pill and remember that a child’s dreams regarding her/his future are in constant flux. McLeod’s cartoon-like illustrations, on the other hand, are full of fun. Though Mom and Bun are the book’s main characters, Bun’s dog Buck and his baby brother Toonie have their own nonspeaking but visual roles throughout Earn It!.

Recommended with Reservations.

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

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