Betty Bunny Wants Everything

Starred review from December 19, 2011
Toys can be just as irresistible as chocolate cake, Betty Bunny discovers in her second outing. While at the mall, her siblings agreeably pick out one toy each, while Betty fills the cart. “aybe you don’t understand. You can’t have all these toys,” says Betty’s mother. “Maybe you don’t understand,” Betty replies. “I want all these toys.” Leaving the store without any toys, Betty has a meltdown, but her parents come up with a plan that could become a teaching moment—maybe. Laugh-out-loud writing and spot-on characterizations convey a distinctive family with very relatable dilemmas. Ages 3–5. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. Illustrator’s agent: Wanda Nowak Creative Illustrators Agency.

January 15, 2012
That boisterous Betty Bunny is back, and she's just as much of a handful as she was in her initial outing (Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake, 2011). This time Betty's focused on choosing a toy at the store, but with so many choices, what's a bunny to do? Betty and her siblings are told that they can each select just one toy, and Betty at first chooses a little bunny doll. Then she quickly fills up an entire shopping cart with a towering stack of hilariously named toys, such as a Captain Gizmo Detective Kit. Her spree leads to a meltdown and a tearful trip home sans toy, but her understanding parents and siblings work with Betty to help her make an appropriate choice with her money on a return trip to the store. Kaplan's perfectly paced text captures a young child's intense emotions and limited reasoning, and the patient parents and slightly snide older brothers are real characters, as is the irrepressible Betty. Charming, large-scale illustrations in watercolor and ink are filled with details of toys and clothing, with understated colors and white backgrounds creating a fresh, contemporary air. We don't know everything about Betty Bunny yet, and her new BFF, the bunny doll she names Little Betty, might turn out to be a handful, too. More, please. (Picture book. 3-6)

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January 1, 2012

PreS-K-In Betty Bunny's return appearance, the enthusiastic rabbit and her siblings are told that they can each choose one toy in the toy store. Betty Bunny selects a small stuffed bunny that looks a lot like her. But then she starts filling the cart. When her mother reminds her of the one-item rule, Betty replies, "Maybe you don't understand...I want all these toys." Unable to get her way, Betty throws a full-blown tantrum as her mother picks her up and leaves the store. At home, she tries to convince her father that the tears are because she has the meanest mommy in the world. Her parents have a plan. They take her back to the store and give her some cash to spend as she wants, hoping she will come to an understanding about the value of money. Betty gets the small stuffed bunny she initially chose, and her mother and father assume she has learned a lesson-until the youngster fills the cart again with toys, saying that the stuffed bunny wants them. The mostly watercolor illustrations are colorful and expressive, and the characters' contemporary clothing is quite funny. There is humor in the reactions and dialogue of Betty's three older siblings as they witness this drama. There is a lesson here about money and what it can do. Readers will probably learn it, but Betty Bunny clearly has not.-Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2012
Grades K-3 Betty Bunny (Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake, 2011) is back, and despite being told that she can have only one toy at the toy store, she loads up the shopping cart. But when she refuses to part with such treasures as the Slide N'Splash Inflatable Pool, there's a tantrum, followed by a swift exit to the car. Her parents come up with a solutiongive Betty Bunny a finite amount of money to spendbut she's not giving up that easily. Toddlers and parents of toddlers will surely relate to this hilarious handful of a rabbit girl.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2012
When Betty Bunny's mother says she can have one new toy, Betty fills an entire shopping cart: "But I [cf2]want[cf1] everything I want." Children will relate to Betty's desire to have it all; parents may cringe at her bratty scheme to get her way, but youngsters won't. Energetic ink and watercolor illustrations add comical details to Betty's over-the-top shopping trip.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)