I’ve seen some hilarious kid books in my life as a library skulker, but Battle Bunny is a new breed of hilarity and imagination. At a first glance the book looks like your typical cutesy story about a woodland creature. The illustrations are awash with pastels, fuzzy animals, and blue skies, but at a second glance it appears that a naughty child has defaced the entire book.
The authors of the book essentially wrote two stories in one. The base story features a birthday bunny and his cutesy friends. The defaced “pencil” drawings on top of the cutesy story alter the plot, giving the bunny an variety of hand held weapons and a plan to unleash his evilness.
Not everyone is going to like the defaced story of Battle Bunny, but I applaud the authors and illustrator. It’s hard to do something new in books today–even more so with kids books where the standard fare is 1) princesses 2) animals 3) robots. There are millions of stories waiting to be told, but sometimes I wonder if we’re too stuck on doing ‘what works’ to see the beautiful and creative possibilities. Take for instance, ebooks.
Many years ago–If you think this makes me sound old I WILL punish you–I tried getting published the traditional route. I tried getting an agent, I submitted books to publishers, and I entered stories in contents. Ebooks were new, frightening, and scary. Everyone in the publishing industry seemed to demonize self published ebook authors, but in December 2012 I decided to take a chance and released a second Kindle ebook. I have been so blessed to acquire a lot of great readers who I really cherish since then, and it’s given me the motivation and ability to write even more than I used to. If I hadn’t taken the chance and tried releasing more ebooks I wouldn’t be able to share my books with the wide audience I have today.
That’s why I want to applaud innovators like Battle Bunny, because if we don’t try new things we won’t reach our dreams. Thanks for reading, Champions, and I will see you on Friday.