Saturday Snippets

Saturdays are for small bits and pieces that I love, and by popular demand (okay, one person. Thank you, Mary!) the snippets are from another picture book. I should probably think of another name for Saturday posts, but there are only two more and Saturday Storytime sounds silly. Today's book is a silly story, but it's another one that both of my sons adored and I loved to read. Bonus: it's also a really fun way to practice money and counting skills.

Bunny Money by Rosemary Wells is the story of Max and Ruby who set out to buy a gift for their grandmother. Ruby (the responsible rabbit sibling) has saved up a walletful of bunny money. She finds the perfect birthday gift, but it costs far too much, and she also has to deal with Max, who thinks that Grandma would really enjoy a set of glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth. Max gets messy, hungry, and thirsty, all of which use their dwindling funds. They eventually find some great presents that Grandma clearly loves; the picture of her wearing them is wonderful!

For extra fun with this book, you can photocopy the endpapers and make your own bunny money to use along with the story. The money took a bit of time to make, but it added immeasurably to our enjoyment of this already-great book. Imagine my surprise when I also found two lucky quarters in our bunny money wallet! Max carries his lucky quarter, and of course both of my boys had to be holding lucky quarters when we read this. 

Rosemary Wells has a whole series of Max and Ruby stories including Bunny Cakes, Bunny Party, and A Christmas Tree for Ruby. More good news is that she's been writing and illustrating for over 40 years and has a multitude of other books besides Max and Ruby. One of my favorites was Yoko, even though my boys felt it was a bit too "girly" for them. They were, however, quite curious about red bean ice cream.

This fun book has stayed with me for 20 years or more; I still wish I could find a pair of singing bluebird earrings for $4.00!