The Paintbrush Bunny

First published in 1976 and offered as a Weekly Reader Children's Book Club selection, The Easter Egg Artists quickly became a favorite with my children. It is a lively Easter season story that focuses on the bunnies and colored eggs traditions rather than any religious aspect. It is written with

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the 4-8 year old readership in mind.

The story is about the Abbott family of rabbits, Father, Mother and their son Orson. They are official Easter Rabbits and consequently they have to do a LOT of egg painting. The book opens with them getting ready to take a much needed vacation before gearing up for the big push that will begin with the arrival of 100 dozen eggs in January.

Mother and Father are a bit concerned that Orson is not applying himself to the family trade and they wonder if he will grow into it. He's immature and can't seem to stay on task. His designs are pretty basic and his heart doesn't seem to be in his work, but when the Abbotts decide to paint their rusty old car before they set out on their trip, they let Orson help. Instead of painting it all one color he proceeds to cover up just the rusty spots with beautiful curlicues, flowers and other colorful designs. Mother and Father are so pleased! The car looks like a big, bright Easter Egg. Maybe Orson has some aptitude after all.

All during their vacation Orson has numerous opportunities to spread his wings and develop his own style and he becomes quite a unique talent in his own right. Author and illustrator Adrienne Adams has given children three engaging characters and a fun "inside look" at the world of Easter rabbits. My boys really related to Orson with his enthusiasm and his creativity and his spunky sense of humor. They wanted many repeat readings of this story and continued to enjoy it from year to year during their childhoods. I have pulled my old copy out and my granddaughter loved it just as they had done. She explored every picture and because of this book was very eager to make her own first attempt at egg painting.

I love this book because it has an encouraging theme of "do your own thing" or "make your own kind of music" and it shows that everyone can have a unique gift to add to the fun. Mother and Father Abbott are the old pros and they can get lots of work done quickly but Orson teaches them some new tricks and has a lot of fun in the process.

There are double page spreads throughout this book where the illustrations take up the whole surface of the pages and the text is superimposed in a corner of one page. This means large illustrations and it engages the eye as well as the ear during the storytime experience. My children love that kind of picture book because it keeps them engaged scoping out all the details of the pages while the story is quietly unfolding as a backdrop.

My favorite parts are when the Rabbits get back home following their vacation and get to work on the egg painting. The expressions on their faces are just too cute, especially the sly little looks between the parents when their son isn't watching. They are so proud of him. There is a wonderful double page illustration that is mostly black where the rabbits are hiding the eggs they have painted. They're out there, as a family, in the dark with their flashlights, a bright moon overhead, having a great time together. It's very atmospheric and really gets the kids excited for trying their own egg artistry and for their own big Spring egg hunt.

This book is just plain fun...the story, the characters, the ideas and the art. Don't miss it.

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This book would be good for ages k-5th grade. The pictures are great and really make it interesting. After reading the story, students could paint easter eggs or paint a picture of an easter egg.

I did not like this book for a few reasons. For one, I did not like the illustrations because the main character in the story was supposed to be an artist yet I did not find the illustrations in the story to be elaborate. Also, I did not like the plot because I thought it was boring. All the rabbit

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in the story did was paint different objects; there was really no conflict. The big picture of The Easter Egg Artist is that if you continue to pursue your passion, others will start to notice and support you. For example, in the story, the rabbit would paint different objects and other rabbits began to notice. By the end of the story multiple rabbits wanted to buy the artist’s Easter eggs and the scene was described as, “people wanted to buy them faster than he could paint them.” Clearly, the rabbits supported the artist because they wanted to buy his Easter eggs.

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Love the details and whimsy in the artwork. This is one of my favorite Easter books.

This story of anthropomorphic rabbits doesn't totally make sense but the pictures are quite cute. I found that little things bothered me somewhat, such as them visibly not wearing seat belts as the go on a trip, even though the dad says "Fasten your seat belt" to his son. Also, him nonchalantly

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painting from the house's roof without any protection, or hopping on top of the well in the dark, etc ... but I don't know why I should be getting upset about that, they're rabbits after all.

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