Caramel reviews The Rescue Rabbits by Eric Seltzer

This week Caramel wanted to talk about a fun picture book written by Eric Seltzer and illustrated by Roland Garrigue: The Rescue Rabbits. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you found a book about bunnies!

Caramel: Yes! This is a cool book about rabbits that can talk.

S: You and I are talking!

C: Yes, that’s true. But other animals talk in this book too. Like hippos, elephants, a kangaroo. A lot of animals.

S: And they all understand one another, right?

C: Apparently.

S: That sounds so neat! Wouldn’t it be great if we could talk with all other animals?

C: Yep.

S: So tell me what this book is about.

C: There are four rabbits that do stuff. Their names are Ace, Chip, Dot, and Spot. And they help other animals. An elephant and fifty sick hippos and a duck family, a kangaroo…

S: Okay, I get the point. So the rabbits are like a squad …

C: … Like PAW Patrol!

S: Oh yes! That sounds just about right! The PAW Patrol puppies also try and help others in trouble, right?

C: I don’t exactly remember the show really, but yes, I think that is what they do. Can we watch some episodes at some point? Maybe I can remember–hint hint.

S: Maybe. But let us get back to the book.

S: So tell me more about the book. What did you think of the drawings?

C: They’re pretty good. They’re very colorful. They are not really exactly realistic but I still like them.

S: Well, helicopter flying rabbits is also not very realistic. This is obviously fiction, right?

C: Yep. And they are all wearing clothes. There is a pelican wearing a hat, a tortoise wearing a cap, and a warthog and an elephant wearing suits. And there is a baby rhino in overalls.

S: And the Rescue Rabbits are also wearing clothes, right?

C: Yep. We are wearing clothes. Normal bunnies don’t wear clothes.

S: That’s right, but a lot of our readers probably do wear clothes. So maybe that is why the Rescue Rabbits are wearing clothes too.

C: Yes! Maybe so the readers don’t feel weird reading about naked animals.

S: And so that they feel like the animals are more like humans.

C: Yes. But not too much like humans, because that apparently freaks out humans. You told me about the uncanny valley before.

S: Yes, you have a good memory. Do you remember what that was exactly?

C: Not quite. What was it?

S: It is when things look too like humans, humans get scared. Here is a neat article about it: What is the Uncanny Valley? It is a concept first thought of in the field of robotics, when people were beginning to think of making robots look more and more like humans.

C: In Star Trek Voyager, there is a holographic life form and he looks exactly like humans. And humans are sometimes scared of him.

S: Yes, kind of like that. But let us get back to the book. What three words would you use to describe this book?

C: Colorful, happy, adventurous.

S: Yes, I like those words and I think they fit this book. So it is now time to wrap up this review. What do you want to tell our readers Caramel?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!