posted on 09 Dec 2023

Bunnies in a Sleigh by Philip Ardagh, illustrated by Ben Mantle

The first word that came to mind when I saw the cover of this ‘crazy Christmas story’ was exuberance. There is a loud and cheerful Santa pulled along by jolly, well-fed reindeers and surrounded by rather mischievous looking rabbits who are clearly along for a fun filled ride.

This is the latest outing for the Sunnytown bunnies, a riotous gang of creatures dreamed up by Philip Ardagh, a prolific and popular author who has been published in over 40 languages around the world. Designed to be read aloud to emphasise the rhyming text and the repeated refrain of ‘Bunnies in a sleigh!’, it takes us into the heart of Santa’s workshop on the first double page spread. I love the vibrant and detailed illustrations which are jam packed with humour. The elves are clearly overdosing on candy canes and the resulting sugar rush is causing mayhem. Some are sleeping with blissful expressions while others are racing about with manic grins - what on earth has happened to the traditional expectation of a busy, focussed work environment?

The Chief Elf looks distraught as he surveys the chaos, but the solution might be outside the workshop where we see ‘some Christmas-crazy bunnies on a frantic dog-pulled ride!’ They crash through the heavy snow, smashing down a snowman and with no regard for the scared looking reindeers who look on nervously. It seems that one of the Bunnies also has a stash of candy canes which he distributes liberally to his friends. The excitement reaches fever pitch as they step in to help Santa to load presents onto his sleigh. Leaving the hopeless elves behind ( apart from the rather anxious looking Chief Elf), they leap on bound for a big adventure.

The bunnies are a good-hearted bunch and are determined to help Santa deliver his many presents, but, whereas Santa never seems to get dirty travelling up and down sooty chimneys, they get completely covered. Not only that, but they take advantage of sitting in a cosy house, watching TV whilst gobbling popcorn and trying out even the noisiest of presents. I liked the feeling of big generosity that suffuses this raucous picture book. They are all clearly having a great time as they help to deliver presents to the various sleeping animals. This includes a toothy sleeping crocodile in bed who takes delivery of his parcel between his very sharp teeth!

Once the long job is well underway, they return to the sleigh where the poor Chief Elf sees his precious map blowing away. Santa is busy sorting more presents from his bulging sack and they narrowly avoid crashing into Big Ben, but there are even further mishaps and challenges ahead. Despite all this, their energy levels and cheerful dispositions are undaunted - what excellent workers they are proving to be. They even manage to deliver presents to prisoners in their cells by mysteriously getting hold of a giant golden key!

At the end of the busy night the bunnies are rewarded with plentiful carrots, and they celebrate the beginning of Christmas Day with a joyful dance along with some of the elves who have recovered from the effects of the sugar rush.

I strongly recommend this hilarious story published by Walker Books. It can be obtained from your local independent bookshop - who will be glad to order it for you if it’s not on their shelves.

 

Karen Argent

December 2023