Bunny & Tree

Bunny & Tree starts off with a prologue that is quite common in children´s literature: It uses a tree to show the changes of the seasons. Iela and Enzo Mari perfected this in their epic silent books already in the 1960s. But Zsako has many more pages to fill and takes his story a lot further. Bunny & Tree is 184 pages long (!), featuring nine different chapters. The structure is fairytale-like: First we meet a hero in distress - a cute bunny who is running from a scary wolf together with his bunny friends. Then there is a rescue operation, where the tree saves the bunny from being eaten. The tree and the bunny form an emotional bond, and goes on to find the rest of the bunnies together.

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As in all fairy tales, the two heroes need to overcome all sorts of obstacles, like the fact that the tree has roots, and their need for a boat, a train, an airplane... Bunny´s ingenuity and Tree´s ability to adapt to all situations is a powerful combination that lets them travel both over and under ground. Together they cross oceans and continents looking for Bunny´s friends. Like in all good fairy tales, Bunny there is a happy ending, achieved through kindness and cooperation. In the epilogue, we get another gorgeous overview of nature´s cycles that compliments the prologue.

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Zsakos artwork is stunning. The beautiful, soft skies and landscapes makes the characters stand out, and the use of colors reflect the feelings conveyed in the action. The bunny and the tree both have distinct personalities without being antromorphized. Achieving this level of expression is no small feat, Tree only has two "eyes" (round holes in its foilage), the rest is conveyed throgh the movement of the leaves and branches.

 

The book alters between three different page layouts - double spreads, two-picture spreads and spreads that has a picture on the right side and a left blank side as if to say: This is a space for your own words. The different layouts helps the reader move through the book in a certain rythm that compliments the story.

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I love pictograms in silent books. Silent book artists are usually very talented illustrators, and often makes amazing pictograms, Zsako is no exception. His pictograms are outstanding, they add both to the readers understanding and to the enjoyment of the story. The conversations between Bunny and Tree are adorable, but I think my favourite page is the one where Bunny retells everything that has happened to his bunny friends, using six very precise pictograms. This page also helps the reader sum up the long story, which can be quite helpful when reading with young children who might not be used to books of this length.

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The binding is beautiful and very sturdy, and the paper quality is good. Hidden behind the colorful paper cover is a gorgeous picture of Bunny & Tree in all blue, printed at the hardcover. There are no words on either cover picture, which is a beautiful touch for a silent book, the title is only printed on the spine of the book. 

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Balint Zsako is an accomplished artist that has been exhibiting painting and collage for 20 years. His illustrations appear in magazines like The New Yorker and Harper´s and also in films. Bunny & Tree is Zsako´s first picture book, and it is a triumph. Zsako has created not "just another picturebook" but a wordless saga, a fullsize novel that can be enjoyed by three-year olds and adults alike. Bunny & Tree makes room for telling each other the stories the world needs right now: stories of friendship, of cooperation, of the recilience of nature and the power of hope. This is a true work of art to be read and reread countless times. Bravo!

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