The Hot Cross Bunny

March 13, 2023
Having failed to grow a single chocolate egg for the Easter Egg Harvest, Steve, a bright blue bunny, channels his frustration into a recipe of his own. The heat of competition, and his own lack of harvest, have made Steve the crossest rabbit on “the top secret Isle of the Great Easter Bunny.” Feeling “hop-less” but still intent on winning the annual Golden Egg Cup, he plants a concoction of ingredients that produces a giant egg—one that hatches a hungry purple dragon who flies off to the “real world” and eats all the chocolate eggs it can find. Steve and a chicken companion dive into a frenetic quest to remedy the situation, which soon involves chocolate-egg poo and other goofy elements. Chambers’s brightly cartooned scenes feature fantastical landscapes, keeping pace with Bexington’s rhymed telling in this chaotic holiday outing with a Grinch-like arc. Ages 3–5.

November 18, 2022

K-Gr 2-On the Isle of the Great Easter Bunny lives a small, very cross rabbit named Steve. He is not "egg-cited" about Easter, because he has been unsuccessful in growing any chocolate Easter eggs all year. "'It's hop-less!' Steve grumbled, his heart felt so squeezy. 'This chocolate egg growing is meant to be easy.'" With encouragement from a chicken named Nugget, Steve continues trying and grows an enormous egg that hatches a dragon. Steve and Nugget follow the hungry dragon into the Real World, where it eats all the chocolate eggs, potentially ruining Easter for all the children. When they catch up with the dragon, who they discover is friendly, the creature poops out enough chocolate eggs to restore Easter. Steve ends up winning his coveted Golden Egg Cup, and all's well that ends happily in this rhyming tale. Cheerful spring colors illustrate this romp; but though the rhyme reads well enough, the scatological humor may ruin chocolate eggs for readers of all ages. VERDICT Not a necessary purchase for libraries.-Maria B. Salvadore

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