Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi

I wanted to start my book reviews with a children's book I had never read before.  Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies seemed like a fun title.  The book is basically about a bunny who loves to read about everything.  His father is a pirate captain who clearly does not see the importance of reading, but Henry is not discouraged, even when the other pirate bunnies make fun of him.  Henry saves the day when there is a shipwreck and Henry uses what he learned in his books to build them shelter, make them food and even show them how to build a new ship out of palm fronds.  This book definitely showed children the benefit of reading a variety of books. As I was reading I felt unsure of the grade levels that would enjoy this book.  There aren't too many words per page, so you could keep the little ones' attention, but some of the meaning would be lost by them.  Older elementary kids would think the book was too childish.  I think second or third graders might be able to appreciate it most.  In one of the reviews I read, someone suggested reading it to high schoolers as a funny way to introduce their history lessons that included pirates.  They would probably chuckle at the names of the books Henry read like "Rabbitson Crusoe" and "Quick and Easy Meals for Marooned Pirates".  The book's illustrations by John Manders are eye catching and funny, but I noticed right away that Henry looks a bit nerdy with his enormous glasses and I thought to myself, "I was kind of a nerdy reader type when I was a kid and I would have liked to have been more cool.  Why didn't they make him look like the coolest bunny ever?"  Anyway, how he looked didn't matter because he saved the day. So I guess they wanted nerdy- looking book lovers to know they really are the coolest!