Winners of How Do You Read to a Rabbit Contest!

To celebrate the release of Andrea Wayne von Königslöw's charming picture book How Do You Read to a Rabbit? we ran a contest asking children to tell us which animal they thought would be hard to read to, and why. The winner would receive an original illustration of their entry from Andrea. In the end, Andrea received so many great submissions that she decided to choose three winners rather than just one. Here are the lucky winners, along with their illustrations.

Sarah, age 6 when she entered, said that "It would be hard to read to a butterfly because it will flutter too much and you'll have to read in all different directions."

N., age 3 when he entered, said, "I would try to read to a cow, but it would be hard because the cow would keep saying moo."

The final winner wasn't a single person--it was a classroom from South Park Elementary School in Tsawwassen, BC. Teacher-librarian Leslie Clancy read the students How Do You Read to a Rabbit? and then encouraged them to enter the contest. Twenty-seven of them submitted their ideas, and Andrea chose to illustrate six of them!

The entries for the above illustration included "maybe some gorillas know what we're talking about," "an orangutan will just want to swing the pages," "a platypus would go right to sleep (they are lazy)," "don't read to a funny hyena, the laughing is annoying," "you can try to read to an eagle but you'll need to fit in its nest," and "when you read to a bird, you have to read fast before it flies away to its nest."

Thanks again to everyone who entered--Andrea loved reading all of your wonderful ideas--and congratulations to the winners!

Happy Chinese New Year!

This week ushered in the Year of the Rabbit. In honor of Chinese New Year, test your knowledge of Chinese inventions by taking our quiz! If you're stumped, you may need to check out The Chinese Thought of It. Or get some hints by watching this trailer:



Once you've brushed up on your Chinese history and culture, why not focus on this year's animal, the rabbit? (If you were born in 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, or 1999, this is your year!) I recommend How Do You Read to a Rabbit? And of course there's always The Velveteen Rabbit! But my favorite bunny is the one who brings me chocolate for Easter... how about you?

Happy Mother's Day!

May 9th is Mother's Day, so I hope all you mothers out there have a wonderful weekend! Last year, I posted the Top 10 Reasons a Book Makes the Perfect Mother's Day Gift. This year, I'd like to recommend a book for mothers with little ones who are just learning to read on their own: How Do You Read to a Rabbit? by Andrea Wayne von Königslöw.

In this adorable picture book, a child tries to read to various animals (an alligator, a kangaroo, and of course some rabbits) without success. The alligator eats the book, the kangaroos hop away too fast, and there are just too many bunnies. Animals are just so hard to read to! The child finally finds an appreciative audience... can you guess who they might be?

We're running a contest for children about this book: tell us which animal you think would be hard to read to and why, and Andrea will create a signed, original sketch of the winning entry! Click here to read the full contest details and to enter!

Here are just a few of the great entries we've received so far:

• "It would be hard to read to a sea serpent because you would get the pages all wet and you would have to sit all the way behind him in the very bottom of the sea." (Owen, 4)
• "Even if you try to read to a dodo bird you can't because they're extinct." (Jayden, 11)
• "If you try to read to a chipmunk while he's eating his chubby cheeks will block the book." (Alycia, 10)
• "You can try to read to a rhino, but his horn would poke right through the book." (Logan, 7)
• "A llama and reading to it would be difficult because it would spit in my face." (Brenna, 9)

 We look forward to your entries! Happy Mother's Day!

Andrea Wayne von Königslöw: Interview and Contest!

Author/illustrator Andrea Wayne von Königslöw talks about her latest picture book, How Do You Read to a Rabbit?



We're also running a contest for kids: send in your suggestion of an animal that you'd like to read to (and why it might be difficult), and Andrea will give the winner an original sketch of their entry! Visit our website for full details and an online entry form.