What If Bunny’s Not a Bully?

What If Bunny’s Not a Bully? by Lana Button (author of the “Willow” series) is not your typical bullying story. Bunny is a bully, and all her friends want to avoid playing with her except for Kitty. Kitty starts to question what is a bully and how did Bunny become one. Was Bunny born a bully? Was she stung by a bully bug? Will she still be a bully when she is old? While Kitty and her friends ponder these questions, they realize that their actions to exclude Bunny make them bullies as well. How will they stop all this bullying between them?

What If Bunny’s Not a Bully? is a thoughtful tale about exploring friendships and having empathy for one another. Many bullying stories just label or point out who is a bully and what is bullying. The protagonist, Kitty, questions and reflects on her own actions to see if she is a bully, herself. Self-reflection and having empathy for others are important actions that are hard to teach and recognize, but Button demonstrates how one does this seamlessly.

The illustrations are carefully hand-drawn and coloured with digital collages. Battuz’s use of digital collage is very refreshing as she uses repeating patterns to help colour her backgrounds, an approach which adds a modern-esque feel to her trees and shrubs. Anyone can relate to the characters as they are cartoon drawn animals. Bunny the bully is not your stereotypical big and strong aggressor; instead, she is a small innocent looking bunny.

Overall, What If Bunny’s Not a Bully? is a beautifully illustrated atypical bullying story for primary aged children who may have or will encounter instances of bullying on the playground. This picture book is a great book to add to one’s social emotion learning collection.