My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean

Written by Bill Richardson

Illustrated by Bill Pechet

Running the Goat, Books & Broadsides

978-1-998802098

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

May 2024 

 

With a mondegreen play of words on the traditional Scottish folk song "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean," Bill Richardson and Bill Pechet have given us another bunny story of a legendary incident. Like their earlier book Hare B & B (2021), readers are treated to a silly but playful adventure, this time one in which a stuffed rabbit endeavours to make its way home with a lot of help from a menagerie of animals. And it's all to the accompaniment of some talented singing seagulls.

From My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean, written by Bill Richardson, illustrated by Bill Pechet

When a bow-tied and sunglass-wearing bunny is abandoned at the beach and a seagull falls in love, a global escapade ensues. With a seagull bemoaning the stuffie's plight of being dragged out to sea, My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean becomes a lament.

My Bunny was wet and bedraggled,

My Bunny was dashed by the waves,

My Bunny was found by a starfish,

And that's how my Bunny was saved.

The words may not all be as we may have learned them but they certainly sound like they were made for a story about an errant bunny.

From My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean, written by Bill Richardson, illustrated by Bill Pechet

And, boy, does this bunny travel, and with the help of everything from a starfish and a whale, a tallship and a kangaroo, and more. Still when Bunny finally gets back to the family–who should be chastised for abandoning Bunny in the first place–there will still be someone lamenting Bunny's absence.

From My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean, written by Bill Richardson, illustrated by Bill Pechet

I defy you to read this story and not sing it to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." It's so easy to do with words that rhyme and flow, especially with a repetitive chorus. The story may be different and homophones used, but Bill Richardson, who does clever very well, keeps the rhythm and the momentum of the original and gives it the humour and cheekiness that will delight readers of all ages. Kids may sympathize with a lost stuffie, but adults will chuckle at the lovestruck seagull and the astonishing path of the bunny to its home.

From My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean, written by Bill Richardson, illustrated by Bill Pechet

That cheekiness is seen in Bill Pechet's sketch art, from Bunny relaxing on a bed inside the whale's belly to seagulls singing atop the "Bunnilator" plane heading between signposts "Here" and "There." Sticking with his palette of pale turquoise, light lime green, and pale orange, Bill Pechet keeps us on that ocean, on the land, and in the air as Bunny finds its way home. And he makes us laugh.

 

Bunny may make it home via a prolonged path, but they will be prepared for another such eventuality. (Come on, it wasn't Bunny's fault that they were left behind.) And with a seagull singing its yearning for Bunny still, I suspect Bunny will never be alone again.