"Pat the Bunny" by Dorothy Kunhardt is an interactive book that invites children to play with fun textures and sights. When it was first published in 1940, it was the first children's book to involve sensory activities. Sensory play such as this are crucial to a child's early development, another reason why Pat the Bunny is so special. In my redesign, I imagine a brand new story that honors original book's best features.
My proposed redesign takes the most important elements of the original and evolves them. No longer are characters Paul and Judy just children on a plain background; I reimagine them in a playful, bunny-centric world, brimming with colorful scenery.
An interactive flap reveals the fun image beneath.
Custom, detailed illustration throughout the book.
Detail featuring hand-crocheted texture.
In the original Pat the Bunny, the characters are human children, which can feel exclusive or unimaginative. To solve this, the new characters are redesigned as adorable bunnies that children can connect with, no matter what they look like.
Making the characters bunnies also resolves common misunderstanding of the book. Many new readers interpret “Pat the Bunny” as a name, not an action. They end up confused to see the story is about human children, and that the bunny is just one feature. Incorporating a new bunny-world eases the gateway into the story.
Cut-out shape for imaginative play.
Reflective material emulates the experience of a mirror.
Another pop-up detail, the book within the book.
Detail of final spread.
Gritty paper provides interesting texture.
In this redesign, everything but the text and activities was handmade, with love, by me. The set includes one book and one plush bunny friend, packaged together in a neat gift box!
