Tales of Bunjitsu Bunny

K-Gr 2—With very simple black-and-white illustrations, Himmelman tells delightful short stories about a little bunny named Isabel, who is mighty in spirit. Isabel practices a martial art called Bunjitsu, and each story imparts a lesson from her experiences in fighting or not fighting. In one story, Isabel attempts to fight an angry wave, and when she realizes she will continue to get thrown on the beach, she decides to enjoy being carried away instead. All the other tales are similar in mood and lesson, taking a slightly zen approach to life. The tales are reminiscent of Arnold Lobel's "Frog and Toad" stories (HarperCollins) or Jon J. Muth's ever-popular Zen Shorts (Scholastic 2005), but they are stylistically very different, with line drawings that give very little detail and lots of negative space, leaving most of the scenes up to the imagination of readers. The writing style makes for a good read-aloud, and the sentence structure and complexity are straightforward enough for advanced readers in primary grades to try it. Recommended for general purchase.—Shalini Miskelly, St. Benedict Catholic School, Seattle, WA