Black Belt Bunny

by Jacky Davis, Jay Fleck (Illustrator)

Black Belt Bunny is fast and strong and has seriously awesome moves from front-kicks to back-flips to air-chops. Then he's faced with something new, something every bunny must learn, something he might not be as good at: He has to make . . . a salad. Black Belt Bunny tries to escape. He even disguises himself with a fake mustache. But when he finally hops to it, he discovers that his seriously awesome moves come in pretty handy.

Genres: Picture Books, Food, Childrens, Animals, Storytime, Rabbits, Humor

40 pages, Hardcover

First published July 11, 2017

About the author

Jacky Davis, along with her husband David Soman, is one half of the creative team behind the New York Times bestselling Ladybug Girl series. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and children.

Reviews

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars Cute, will see if my class likes it.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Black Belt Bunny with impressive martial arts skills resists learning to make a salad in this fun little picture-book from author Jacky Davis, co-creator of the popular Ladybug Girl series, and illustrator Jay Fleck. The narrator has to coach the bunny into the task, but once he gets going, he's a real wizz!

Although I can't say that I had a particularly strong reaction to Black Belt Bunny, either good or bad, I do think many young children will appreciate the humor of the cajoling text, in which the narrator addresses the leporine hero directly. Whether they will consequently take to salads and veggies, if they were hitherto reluctant to do so, is another matter. Recommended to young children who like stories about bunnies, and/or martial arts and ninjas, and to parents looking for picture-books about eating a healthy array of vegetables.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently earning your black belt isn't enough for the narrator of this book. Instead, bunny is challenged to learn how to make a salad.

A funny little book with lots of cool sound effects you can add for the young ones.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

He's a black belt bunny but he's reluctant to learn how to make a salad? Eventually though he puts those black belt skills to good use.

[Hoshi Begay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yosheena

[Casandria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both the awesome Black Belt Bunny and the narrator learn a bit about trying new things, but in a very funny and cute way :)

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

And another fun little children's picture book that crossed my path at the library. I just had to read it. And it was worth it. Delightfully charming.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute illustrations.

[Lori Siesto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Belt Bunny is an expert at all the best karate moves. When faced with the challenge of creating a salad, something all bunnies love, Black Belt Bunny uses kicks and flips to chop and toss the perfect green masterpiece. The energetic and determined bunny even surprises the reader/narrator by introducing some new veggie flavors to the salad mix. Certainly a book to read and re-enact together!

Upsides: Black Belt Bunny is facially expressive, gender-less, and finds a way to make even vegetables exciting. Eggplant and beets have never looked more enticing, as when Black Belt Bunny is slicing them up for the feast. A conversational story with dynamic illustration, the reader narrates to the bunny in second person, which feels like an unusual twist. (“What did you put in it? … Your salad looks out of this world.”)

Downsides: Black Belt Bunny never speaks, and the dialogue comes entirely from the unseen narrator, which may lead to some confusion with younger, less advanced readers.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Also, Black Belt Bunny can be extremely quiet, and surprisingly sneaky." There shouldn't be a second comma, right? Whoopsie.

Not gonna lie, the comma thing threw me off right off the bat, and the book didn't really recover. I mean... it's fine. It's a book. I think I wish I had been warned that it would be about salad and trying new foods instead of expecting a crazy ninja bunny story. Maybe a different title would have helped.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

You had me at bunny!This a super fun, nicely illustrated book that is fun on many levels!
1) A Bunny...always a winner!
2) Karate (black belt.) Exercise)
3) Healthy Eating
4) Trying new things!
and a Bunny! I really enjoyed this! Very Expressive Bunny Face!

[Jess Verzello · Rating 3 out of 5]

The narrative of this book allows readers to interact with the main character, which is fun. However, I'm not sure about the purpose or intent of this book, perhaps health awareness? The fact that the bunny makes a salad seemed disappointing to me.

[Maggie Ignasiak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read-aloud option for storytimes about healthy eating and trying new things. I really enjoyed it! It's also super funny and spins the whole story back on the narrator, which always makes for big laughs.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Narrator switches back and forth between talking about the bunny and talking to the bunny - a little confusing. However, it will serve well as encouragement to try new things.
Solid colors, simple images against different colored backgrounds on different pages.

[Jacki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thinly-veiled salad propaganda.

[Kathryn (Dragon Bite Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally published on my blog Nine Pages .

The text addresses the silent protagonist, Black Belt Bunny. Black Belt doesn’t want to learn how to make salad. He tries a lot to get out of it: hailing a cab, wearing a disguise…. He doesn’t want to learn new things. Finally Black Belt Bunny uses his karate skills to chop and shred and slice all kinds of vegetables. The bunny invites the reader to try his salad, but the lesson gets turned around on the reader. There’s arugula in the salad, and the reader doesn’t like arugula, but no, she’s never actually tried it. She does, and the salad is amazing. This is a clever way to present a lesson about trying new things and trying new foods, made exciting by front kicks, side kicks, karate chops, and punches.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Belt Bunny delights in showing readers all the things he's good at. But when the narrator asks him to learn something new, Black Belt Bunny tries to sneak away.

I like that once the narrator finally convinces Black Belt Bunny to at least try making a salad, the bunny gets really into it. Then it is the narrator's turn to practice trying something new, because Black Belt Bunny has put arugula in the salad and the narrator has never had it and is sure he won't like it. But he has to practice what he preaches and try something new too. So the book approaches two new experiences and shows that something new isn't necessarily going to be horrible. And Black Belt Bunny's salad making with martial arts is very entertaining. A great book for martial arts fans, kids wary of new experiences, and bunny fans.

[Arnela · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a cute story, though the way its told is a little weird. It's about black belt bunny learning how to do something new, make a salad, and he's never done it before so he's very reluctant to try. The moral is just to try new things, even if you're nervous or think you won't be good at it.

The weird part comes from the fact, that there is a narrator of sorts, and they are talking directly to black belt bunny, and describing what's happening on the page. It's written like a cartoon moreso than a story, which might not make a lot of sense to younger kids.

[Mundie Moms & Mundie Kids · Rating 5 out of 5]

We loved the illustrations, and the entertaining sounds of bunny's karate moves. The interaction between the narrator and the bunny brought us right into this amusing story. We loved seeing bunny use his talents to develop a new skill and to try something new. This book is silly and a lot of fun for children and aspiring ninjas.

FULL REVIEW https://mundiekids.blogspot.com/2017/...

[Beth Kakuma-Depew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This very adorable bunny picture book seems to be inspired by the app/arcade game Fruit Ninja, with an added healthy-eating message. The narrator talks directly to the bunny, who wordless interacts with the narrator's requests and directions. On one spread for a close up, Black Belt bunny's face is split by the book's gutter, which I found a bit awkward. Overall, I gave it three stars for the somewhat trendy, yet possibly soon-to-be out-dated story.

[Alexandria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to come clean: I didn't read this book to our son, my husband did. I can't review it for readability or anything else I normally review a children's book for. But I can pass along what my husband said about the book.

My husband is not a sentimental or "cutesy" person but he thought this book was adorable. He loved reading it to our son and apparently read it to him several times. That's a pretty decent endorsement!

[Mariarosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very cute story with illustrations my five-year-old brother and three-year-old sister loved. However, they seemed a little confused as I read the book aloud because the narration talks to the bunny rather than about him. My siblings enjoyed flipping through the pages and making up their own story more than they did listening to me read it to them.

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I liked this more than Miss 3 :) As a grown up there are two things that stand out: (1) the narrator is encouraging Bunny to make a salad and eat their vegetables, (2) it seems to be inspired by a really popular app - I think it's called Fruit Ninja, where you use your finger to try and slice the fruit - which made me laugh!

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black Belt Bunny dishes out a pretty heavy-handed moralistic tale of trying new things even if they scare you. Written in second person to the bunny, I found this one too long with too much dialogue. Berry wanted to read it a second time, so at least she enjoyed it.

[Cassie Zhang · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s cute. Worth the read. You will really like it for kids who practice karate. My son got it for a Christmas present with karate classes. The story also talks about trying new things (making salad and trying arugula) and eating healthy (yummy salad full of veggies and watermelon for dessert). The bunny uses his karate moves to chop up the ingredients.

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny story about a martial arts bunny that needs to learn how to make a salad. I think this would be of particular interest to parents who are trying to encourage their children to eat more vegetables or to children interested in martial arts. My four year old thought it was very funny and the text of speaking to the bunny reminded me a bit of Mo Willems’ pigeon books.

[Ms. Jeane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been trying to find any sort of Karate books to read to my daughter to get her excited about Karate and I came across this one. It's ok, but I wish it was more about karate and not so much about making a salad.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pictures are adorable and simple, the story is interactive and fun. This bunny seems to be good at everything. When he has to make a salad something new he is not really excited about it. This would be fun to do as a storytime, then the children could make their own "salad".

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book about a cute little bunny in a black-belted karate suit who learns to make a salad is a bit odd to me but my preschooler seemed to enjoy the karate moves during the salad preparation and the bunny’s animated, emotional responses to the narrator.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really funny parts, others needed some on-the-fly editing to avoid language that encourages a bad attitude towards trying new foods. Great illustrations and my son loved the (revised, positive food-related language I substituted) story. The arugula part was a particular fave.