Dipping back into the archives here on ReadItDaddy, we really liked "The Jelly That Wouldn't Wobble" by Angela Mitchell and Sarah Horne. So we thought we'd also love the next adventure for Princess Lolly, "The Bunny That Couldn't Be Found".
The Princess wakes up one morning to find that her beloved dog, Johnny Bunny, is missing. Calling for the palace constabulary (who are about thruppence short of a full ten bob note - I have no idea what that means but it's something my Nan used to say when describing bears of little brain), Princess Lolly tells them that "BUNNY IS MISSING!"
Calamity. Naturally, the keystone cops are all at sea as they search the palace high and low for - well, a rabbit - as you would if your majesty bellowed at you that her bunny was missing...
Of course as soon as Johnny Bunny hears the police shouting "Here, bunny bunny bunny!" he comes running (after all, there might be the chance of a feast, or at least a tickled tum). But the police shoo the dog away. Actually they're downright cruel to poor Johnny Bunny who keeps thinking they're calling him, when they're fruitlessly searching for something that doesn't exist.
On rare occasions books just do not hit the right note with Charlotte, and I do mean very rare occasions. About 5 pages in she fidgeted, got distracted and then actually closed the book's covers as I read.
"This is silly" she said. "The story isn't really a story, it's just silly".
Owch. I stubbornly persevered and we read right through to the end but despite great busy colourful artwork by Sarah Horne, and a bit of harmless and well paced slapstick writing from Angela Mitchell I couldn't really 'sell' the book to Charlotte at all on any level.
Her 5-year-old logical mind couldn't get past Princess Lolly being a bit daft calling a dog "Bunny" and the three policemen being completely and utterly hopeless. Unusually the silliness here didn't win her over, and I say 'unusually' because normally we like silly things, and books that contain just the right amount of daftness. I really wish I could quantify what it is that
There's really only one way to find out whether you'll like "The Bunny That Couldn't Be Found" and that's to read it yourself. In this instance, the only bit that Charlotte liked was the bit where Johnny Bunny tries to impress the dozy police sergeant with his best tricks.
If you loved "The Jelly That Wouldn't Wobble" definitely dip into this as you may well enjoy another madcap story with Princess Lolly but it just didn't do it for us, alas.
Charlotte's best bit: Johnny Bunny's balancing tricks.
Daddy's favourite bit: Light hearted and an easy read to dash through before bedtime but is it really possible for a premise to be just too daft even for kids?
(Kindly sent to us for review by Maverick Books)