Honey Bunny Funnybunny - (Beginner Books(r)) by Marilyn Sadler (Hardcover)

Terrible message for children. Will be returning!.

We picked up Honey Bunny Funnybunny because we’ve enjoyed other P.J. Funnybunny books, which we felt carried positive messages about self-acceptance and being happy with who you are. So I wasn’t expecting this. The book portrays P.J. Funnybunny’s pranks and mild bullying of his sister as a sign of “love,” and when he is scolded by his parents and stops, he swings to the other extreme by ignoring her completely. Instead of feeling relief, Honey Bunny misses the bullying and assumes her brother no longer loves her. It isn’t until he starts teasing her again that she feels his love return. This story seems to reinforce the outdated and damaging notion that “boys will be boys”—that boys pick on girls because they “like them.” This idea trivializes harmful behaviors and this narrative is far too similar to the toxic relationship patterns that many women and girls experience later in life. It subtly reinforces the idea that mistreatment equals affection and that being ignored is a punishment for wanting kindness. These are not the lessons I want my daughter to absorb.

This was so bad! I can’t believe that this is a message to children.

As others state, the book has a terrible lesson in which the main character equates teasing and bullying from her brother with love/affection. Not even worth donating, it’s going in the trash.

I purchased this book, read it before I read it with my daughter and returned it the next day. We did not read it together, it was awful, very old timey in the message: bullying (in this case from a sibling) = like/love.

PJ Funnybunny is a favorite, so we assumed that this book about his sister would be a decent book. It's NOT. The theme of the book is that abuse by her brother equals love.

Terrible message. Brother treats her badly and she stands up for herself so he gives her silent treatment and takes away any attention so much that she decides to accept the poor behavior because she misses having any attention from him even if it’s negative.

I cannot say enough how much I hate this book. The moral of the story is that you know people love you if they are mean to you. What a lesson to teach young children. Literally my least favorite children's book of all time.