Sleeping Bunny

The illustrations are beautifully mesmerizing that would find any child or adults eyes filled with wonderment. The story is precious and would entertain the reader for years to come. Truly the book that should be well taken care of and passed down for generations.

Gorgeous illustrations. I originally bought the book as a gift, but I fell so in love with it that I had to order a second for myself.

We all know the story of Sleeping Beauty. This classic has been updated with a little tongue in cheek humor and the most beautiful illustrations I have seen in any children's book. My 5 year old loved the story, and everytime we read it together we find some new detail in the pictures. Highly recommended!

Keller, Emily. Sleeping Bunny. Illus. by Pamela Silin-Palmer. Jan. 2003. 40p. Random, $PreS-Gr. Sleeping Beauty becomes a sleeping bunny in this lavish re-imagining of the familiar fairy tale. Keller follows the traditional story, but rabbit touches abound -- right down to the spinning wheel pricking the princess' velety paws. Other animals populate the kingdom as well; the fairy godmothers are pigs -- except for the bad fairy, who is a rat. Silin-Palmer, a decorative artist who has designed everything from paper products to fantasy furniture, puts her skills to good use in luxurious illustrations touched by swirls and whirls of gold and executed in Renaissance-like style. The story highlights the romance; the prince, decked out in golden armor, fights through a tangle of golden roses to get to his sleeping lady love and wake her with a kiss. Not an essential purchase, but a lush and lovely one. -- Ilene Cooper

Another retold fairy tale from the illustrator of Bunny and the Beast (2001), this time in collaboration with her daughter, finds Sleeping Beauty with a mostly bunny cast -- that is, except for the fairies, who are pigs with wings, and a few other beasts who are courtiers. Keller tells the classic tale with wry and sly humor. At the beginning, the rabbit king and queen long for what is missing in their lives: "a baby bunny (which was highly unusual in their family!) At the very end, the bad fairy Mildew, the rat whose spinning wheel offers the paw prick, presents Bunny and her Prince with eight golden dishes so she won't make the same mistake as her parents in leaving a fairy out, and "everyone lived hoppily ever after." Silin Palmer designs fabric and ceramics among other things, and has clearly studied the work of Dutch flower painter Jan van Huysum: her dark backgrounds and gorgeous, naturalistic flowers bedeck every image. Roses and butterflies, sunflowers and foxglove glow from the pages. Princess Bunny and her family wear more-or-less medieval royal garb that has a shimmer of its own. Really fun, if rather silly. (picture book/fairy tale. 4-7)Copyright by Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2002