Review Detail

Bunny and Clyde

Kids Fiction 242

Bonnie and Clyde Were Pretty-looking Critters

March 07, 2024

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Young friends Bunny and Clyde (who is a chipmunk) do everything they are told, and get a lot of praise for it, but are tired of being good. Even when they are collecting bottle caps and other found items, they are congratulated for picking up trash. Of course, they are tired of this and decide to be "bad to the bone". Since they don't even know HOW to do this, they head to the library to gather resources. There, they ask their friendly librarian for "bad" books; stumped, Rowena takes them to the natural disasters section. Eventually, they find and read books like Bad Kitty, Interrupting Chicken, and The Tale of Two Bad Mice and get their inspiration. They mess up Bunny's room, draw on the walls, and don't even compost an apple core. They even raid Maw-Maw's stash of candy, and fueled by penny candy, start off on their crime spree. After a meeting in their secret clubhouse, they set out to pull flowers from a neighbor's yard. Since they are dandelions, he's pleased with their work. They toilet paper a neighbor's roses... and protect them from a frost at night. They try to scare a friend with a fake spider, but it turns out he needs one for a school project and is touched by their thoughtfulness. They finally decide that the worst thing they can do is to rob a bank, so they make plans and gather supplies. They decide to rob librarian Rowena's piggy bank. Her door is unlocked, so they find the bank and empty out the money, but Rowena returns home. She finds them, and they confess, but Rowena is glad that they were able to get the money out of the bank so that she could spend it without breaking the china pig, and offers them a reward! While Bunny and Clyde weren't all that good at being bad, they had a good day, and get some rest before planning their next adventure.

Good Points

McDonald, who has also written many Judy and Stink Moody books, teams up with Nash to craft a fun early chapter book that will appeal to young readers who are enthralled with the bad behavior of characters like LaReauand Myers' The Infamous Ratsos. Bunny and Clyde certainly try to be bad, but all of their evil deeds turn into good ones. I'm not exactly sure what kind of message this is supposed to send, but it is amusing to see them thwarted at every turn, and their "crimes" are not horribly bad; they even bring up the fact that Rowena says they can drop by her house any time, and she DID leave the door unlocked.

This is the perfect length for emerging readers, and there is plenty of white space on the page. Nash's illustrations are adorable, and he does a great job of capturing the Depression era vibe of the real Bonnie and Clyde through clothing and backgrounds. I'm not sure how many six year olds know of the crime spree of Parker and Barrow, and they might need to have the concept of "penny candy" explained to them, but this reference will certainly make adult readers chuckle.

Early chapter books with animals as them main characters are an appealing transition between picture books and longer middle grade novels. Bunny and Clyde will be right at home on the shelf beside Clark's Dr. Kitty, Lubner's Drag and Rex, Jarvis' Bear and Bird, and Webb and Willams' Pet Rescue Adventure Series.