Review: Rodney Forgets It

In 2018 my kiddos, in our usual countdown to Book Week reading all the short-listed PBs, voted Rodney Loses It our winner - oddly enough, the judges agreed with us (rarely happens, in my experience!).

Now Rodney is back in another hilarious but heart-warming tail - oops, I mean tale - and the small humans will love it just as fiercely as they did the first. In fact, I can prove it as I didn't just read this to review it, I road-tested it with three different classes I took for relief days a couple of weeks ago.

Michael Gerard Bauer (interjection: gotta love an author who heads up his blog page with 'just me rabbiting on') as well as creating top-notch picture books featuring a remarkable rabbit has produced outstanding novels, many of them award-winners.

Now Rodney, the goofy long-eared doofus bunny, entertains children as well as providing them with valuable moral compass points. In this new episode Rodney is invited to a party which is very exciting but he knows he quite often forgets things so he devises a cunning plan to help his memory. He writes reminders on dozens of sticky notes and literally plasters the house with them.

As the countdown to the party ticks by, we see Rodney mowing his neighbour's lawn (Mr Warren!!! hahaha!! no relation by the way), helping out in the library and the school, going about his usual helpful daily business. When the exciting day arrives, there is some slight kerfuffle as Rodney can't remember about what it is that his sticky notes are reminding him but, thankfully, he gets there in the end. But - oh no! - he gets to the party at the Town Hall and realises he is the only guest arriving without a gift!! He must have forgotten it!

Your readers will rock with laughter as my audience did throughout Rodney's wild antics and are very jubilant when they guess why Rodney is the only guest without a present. They all very excitedly talked over the top of each other as to their reasoning behind their prediction which was a delight for me. Their perception of kindness and helpfulness is just a joy to behold.

You won't have much need to promote this heavily as it will definitely speak for itself, you will have plenty of kids who love the earlier book but I highly recommend it for your readers from Prep upwards.

Title: Rodney Forgets It
Author: Michael Gerard Bauer
Illustrator: Chrissie Krebs
Publisher: Scholastic Australia, $19.99
Date of Publication : July 2022
ISBN: 9781761121388
For ages: 3+
Type: Picture Book