Kunoichi Bunny: Wordless Children's Book

 

Publication date: March 15, 2022

My Thoughts:

I am releasing these posts a little earlier than the one month prior that I usually set for pre-released books, however, November is picture book month so I wanted to share early.

This wordless picture book is about a young child, Saya, out on a mini adventure with her dad and her Kunoichi bunny. This can be used for writing workshop craft lessons on inference. What is happening? how do you know? Saya seems to save many people along their adventure. Does her father know what she has done? How do you know? What do you think about the last panel? How does that strengthen/weaken your original prediction about what the father understands about the bunny?

Illustrator Braydon Sato is a Japanese Canadian illustrator who counts Japanese television shows and manga as his art inspiration style. It explains why I thought this was a Japanese book because of its aesthetic styling. I appreciate that Orca books have that international vibe.

Thank you to Orca Books for access to these digital advanced reader copies.

From the Publisher:

The sun is out and the birds are chirping. It’s a beautiful day for Saya, her dad and her well-loved stuffed bunny, Kunoichi, to go to the park.

On their way, Saya stealthily stops a fight by flinging her floppy four-legged ninja-bunny between two snarling cats. Later on, on the bus, Saya throws Kunoichi under the wheels of a child’s stroller, halting its dangerous roll toward the stairs. Dad doesn't notice as Saya uses Kunoichi to save the day time and time again on their outing and on the bus home, proving small actions can have a great impact.

This wordless picture book in graphic novel format by award-winning author Sara Cassidy and illustrator Brayden Sato will bring joy to every reader who believes in the magic of stuffed animals.

Sea Of Love

Publishing date: July 31, 2018
Diamond Book Distributors
Lion Forge

In this wordless comic about an old fisherman lost at sea and the wife who goes to the ends of her earth to find him, this is a powerful story not just of love but about the damage we are doing to our oceans and to each other. This is also a story of carelessness and blind industrialization.

How do I get all of this from a wordless story? Because there are no words, I had to bring my experiences to the book. When his fishing boat gets blindly caught in the nets of an industrial fishing trawler and there are no humans to see him, I think of my oldest son on his little kayak fishing in Kaneʻohe Bay last week. He saw a commercial shuttle boat moving quickly towards him, so my son maneuvered his kayak to sit almost on the reef to leave the channel free. The commercial boat zoomed past him so close that it snagged his line, pulled out 300 yards of line and his lure. My son blew his emergency whistle to let them know he was snagged on them and the boat just blew past him. As a mother, I am thankful that he is ok, and I am grateful that the captain of the larger ship that this shuttle was meeting beyond the reef actually heard the whistle, saw the recklessness of one of his skippers and suspended his license, but it helped me to bring my son's experience into this story. 

This very cute story also has the power to bring more awareness to current issues like the large trash pile floating in the ocean. I wish there were some resources at the end of this to highlight some organizations that are connected to this tale.

LOVE volume 2: THE FOX

Author: Frederick Brremaud

Publisher: Magnetic Press, Diamond Book Distributors
Publication Date: November 10, 2015
Hardcover: 80 pages

In short: A day in the life of the fox, a one-eyed survivor on an island that is literally blowing up as the day progresses. In this wordless, lushly illustrated book, will the fox survive the avalanche, lava flows, predators?

My thoughts: This book "reads" like an HD nature documentary, except that the animals on this island seem like they were just thrown together by some mad scientist trying to collect a menagerie of assorted animals who seem to be out of their element. I can see the fox with the brown bear, rabbits and porcupine, but with the killer whales and polar bear too? Who attacked the fox so that it is blind in one eye? And when the fox goes to the old tree, is the baby fox her baby?

Throughout the book, I kept asking myself why is this series called Love? Where is the love y'all? At the end is a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson which is also curious, "Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen." Does the universe conspire to help this fox survive and live another day? Is that love?

See what you think.

Pre-published e-edition made possible by Net Galley and the publisher.