Chubby Bunny
★★★★
In Julie Murphy's debut picture book, she introduces readers to Barbra "Bunny" Binks, a plus size narrator who loves wear her hair in "bunny buns" and has a sunny disposition.
We get a little character backstory before we dive right into field day at Bunny's school. When the two teams competing reach a tie, the principal of the school comes up with a tiebreaker: a game of "chubby bunny" which involves putting marshmallows in your mouth and saying "chubby bunny" until your mouth is too full to continue. Right away, this raised a red flag for me, as this is a major choking issue. The only mention of this is a small footnote at the very back inside cover of the book. Professionally speaking, I would hesitate tor recommend this book because of this, right off the bat.
Thankfully, the students complete the challenge safely, with Bunny winning the contest. However, her "victory" is short lived, as the students now use "chubby bunny" as a way to tease Bunny for her size. Bunny goes home upset, and has a very bland, generic talk with her mom. There's no words of wisdom, or discussion about accepting body differences and loving yourself for who you are. Her mom says that hopefully by tomorrow, everyone will forget about chubby bunny.
The next day, Bunny tries to find ways to distract her classmates, to no avail. She tries jokes, science experiments, and to create distractions. When none of these plans work, she has a slightly more heartfelt talk with her grandmother, it felt very one note and flat. The book ends in a very anti-climactic fashion, with Bunny's teacher helping them all appreciate their differences (in one line).
While beautifully illustrated with amazing representation throughout, this book just fell completely flat. It had the potential to share a wonderful message of body positivity and confidence in your skin, but we barely go more than surface deep in terms of character development and lessons. Coupled with a troubling game that children should not play, I felt somewhat letdown by Murphy's picture book debut.
Reviewed by Brie M.