Bunjitsu Bunny Jumps to the Moon

John Himmelman's Bunjitsu Bunny Jumps to the Moon is a set of very short stories for 6 year olds about a rabbit who wins by thinking first.

What happens

At bunjitsu, nobody in Isabel's school comes close. She can kick higher, hit harder and throw her classmates further than anyone else.

Some of them are a bit frightened of her. But she never hurts another creature unless she has to.

Bunjitsu, she says, is really about finding ways NOT to kick, hit and throw. That idea runs through every page, and it is a lovely thing to hand a small reader.

Each story is very short and sets Isabel a single problem. A locked door. A coyote who keeps demanding a better cup. A bullfrog who will only declare a winner if you eat a worm.

She solves them sideways every time. When Jackrabbit calls her short-eared to start a fight, she says "Oh, thank you" and walks away. He keeps trying for days. It drives him round the bend.

It feels like being told very good jokes with a point tucked inside. Every story ends with Isabel saying what she learned, in words plain enough for a six year old to repeat at tea. Friends can help you do things you cannot do alone. Some contests are better lost than won.

There is a soft spot in the middle too. Isabel gets the big part in the school play and freezes solid under the spotlight. She has never been so scared in her life. Her friend Betsy whispers her line and it still will not come.

What she does next is not brave in the way you expect. It is better.

There is fighting in it, so you should know that going in. Isabel flips a coyote onto his back, kicks three weasels across an island and gets pinched on the nose by a crab. It is all cartoonish and nobody is really hurt, but a child who dislikes rough and tumble will notice the weasels.

This is the third of Isabel's books. Your reader does not need the others first, because she introduces herself again on page one.

What to read next

If she goes down well, Tales of Bunjitsu Bunny is where Isabel starts out, with a locked door, a boatful of pirate foxes and the same habit of looking for the window instead.