Blending the tongue-in-cheek humor of her popular Scaredy Squirrel series with a clever direct appeal to the reader, Canadian author-illustrator Mélanie Watt introduces an oddly appealing new animal character in You’re Finally Here. As readers open the digitally illustrated book, a white bunny with an oversized head, bulging eyes and expressive eyebrows announces in large type, “You’re finally here!!!” The fanfare is short-lived, however, as readers turn the next page to see the bunny, now getting annoyed, ask, “But where were you?”
The humor takes off as the bunny’s ever-changing moods whip back and forth. First he describes how long he’s been waiting (long enough to watch paint dry and fulfill other exaggerated sayings) and how bored he’s become. Realizing he might have started off on the wrong foot, our narrator switches to his right foot (literally) and launches his welcome all over again. As the bunny’s anger creeps back, he describes the unfairness, annoyance and rudeness of waiting.
It’s not long, however, before the bunny changes tactics, trying to convince the reader to stay (“I’ll spend every second of the day with you!”) and even drawing up a contract to make the relationship binding (and garner a few carrot treats in the process). The bunny’s last-ditch efforts to keep the reader from closing the cover will fall on giggling children.
Watt has once again created an original and entertaining character whose hare-trigger antics add up to great read-aloud fun.
