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A Fluffle of Bunnies
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Expected 3 Feb 26Win a free print copy of this book!
0 days and 14:04:46
25 copies available
U.S. only
Join the animals and follow the clues in this rollicking, rhyming, nature-inspired whodunit story full of fun collective nouns!
A scurry of squirrels has a mystery to solve—a gray rabbit has disappeared! Picture book readers will delight in the cast of woodland animals (with their collective nouns) and the joys of spring, when the rabbit herself reveals a fluffle of baby bunnies!
Praise for Tap the Magic Tree:
"Although simple in presentation with ample white space, the artwork provides a glorious rendition of the four seasons of a tree. " –Booklist
Praise for The Hidden Rainbow:
"This book is sweeter than honey." –Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Praise for Bird Watch:
"A peaceful look at nature for little ones." –School Library Journal
Praise for Touch the Brightest Star:
"This exploration of the world at night should be inviting to even the youngest children . . ." –The Horn Book
A scurry of squirrels has a mystery to solve—a gray rabbit has disappeared! Picture book readers will delight in the cast of woodland animals (with their collective nouns) and the joys of spring, when the rabbit herself reveals a fluffle of baby bunnies!
Praise for Tap the Magic Tree:
"Although simple in presentation with ample white space, the artwork provides a glorious rendition of the four seasons of a tree. " –Booklist
Praise for The Hidden Rainbow:
"This book is sweeter than honey." –Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Praise for Bird Watch:
"A peaceful look at nature for little ones." –School Library Journal
Praise for Touch the Brightest Star:
"This exploration of the world at night should be inviting to even the youngest children . . ." –The Horn Book
- GenresPicture Books
40 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication February 3, 2026
3205 people want to read
About the author
Christie Matheson
22 books36 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Christie Matheson is a writer living in San Francisco and Boston. Her work has appeared in Body & Soul, Glamour, Shape, Boston, San Francisco, Yoga Journal, and The Boston Globe Magazine. She is coauthor of The Confetti Cakes Cookbook, Vineyard Harvest: A Year of Good Food on Martha's Vineyard, and Tea Party and is the author and photographer of the outdoor travel book Discover Rhode Island.
Christie Matheson is a writer living in San Francisco and Boston. Her work has appeared in Body & Soul, Glamour, Shape, Boston, San Francisco, Yoga Journal, and The Boston Globe Magazine. She is coauthor of The Confetti Cakes Cookbook, Vineyard Harvest: A Year of Good Food on Martha's Vineyard, and Tea Party and is the author and photographer of the outdoor travel book Discover Rhode Island.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 15, 2025
What's not to love about collective nouns? As an adult they still fascinate me and I truly still have no idea how these take shape and get absorbed into common language. This picture book explores a number of them as we take a walk through the woods past various animals speculating about what might have happened to their rabbit friend. Spoiler alert: the rabbit is okay. There is actually a nice payoff to the mystery at the end.
First, the flowers...excellent choices for collective nouns to feature. "Charm," "scurry," "parcel," "kaleidoscope" and "banditry" (as some examples) are all delicious words to say and hear. Matheson also uses a lot of nice alliteration. The rhyme flow is very rocky though.
We have lovely flowing lines such as "A ballet of swans/swam gracefully by/not looking worried at all" which even pulled out on its own out of context still has a pleasing rhythm. Then you have lines like this: "A banditry of chickadees sang/a sweet song, but the squirrels/ thought they looked shifty" which make you feel like you have a mouthful of marbles when you read it aloud. For my fellow librarians, if you were to use this in storytime you'd definitely want to give this multiple run-throughs to help you find the right beats.
There is a heavy use of dialogue tags: "worried," "implored," "chortled" etc. which I feel conflicted about. On one hand...yay, vocabulary! On the other hand, we are already throwing a lot of highly specific and unfamiliar words at them with the collective nouns, so it might have been nice to balance this more for clarity. Also, at times I feel like leaning so hard on the dialogue tags contributed to the line flow feeling so overtaxed sometimes.
The artwork, unfortunately, is not for me. No ill will meant here in terms of Matheson's talent.There is so much absolutely gorgeous art out there in picture books and nonfiction that the bar is maybe unreasonably high. I will say though that overall, there is something calming about the muted pastel background colors juxtaposed with the deep browns, and the squirrel tails are so beautifully brushy you want to pet them.
All in all, a bit of a mixed bag but will probably still be appreciated by kids who love animals and could be an opportunity to expose kids to some new and interesting vocabulary.
First, the flowers...excellent choices for collective nouns to feature. "Charm," "scurry," "parcel," "kaleidoscope" and "banditry" (as some examples) are all delicious words to say and hear. Matheson also uses a lot of nice alliteration. The rhyme flow is very rocky though.
We have lovely flowing lines such as "A ballet of swans/swam gracefully by/not looking worried at all" which even pulled out on its own out of context still has a pleasing rhythm. Then you have lines like this: "A banditry of chickadees sang/a sweet song, but the squirrels/ thought they looked shifty" which make you feel like you have a mouthful of marbles when you read it aloud. For my fellow librarians, if you were to use this in storytime you'd definitely want to give this multiple run-throughs to help you find the right beats.
There is a heavy use of dialogue tags: "worried," "implored," "chortled" etc. which I feel conflicted about. On one hand...yay, vocabulary! On the other hand, we are already throwing a lot of highly specific and unfamiliar words at them with the collective nouns, so it might have been nice to balance this more for clarity. Also, at times I feel like leaning so hard on the dialogue tags contributed to the line flow feeling so overtaxed sometimes.
The artwork, unfortunately, is not for me. No ill will meant here in terms of Matheson's talent.There is so much absolutely gorgeous art out there in picture books and nonfiction that the bar is maybe unreasonably high. I will say though that overall, there is something calming about the muted pastel background colors juxtaposed with the deep browns, and the squirrel tails are so beautifully brushy you want to pet them.
All in all, a bit of a mixed bag but will probably still be appreciated by kids who love animals and could be an opportunity to expose kids to some new and interesting vocabulary.
October 11, 2025
Christie Matheson, author and illustrator of picture books such as Forest and Bird Watch and middle grade soccer novel Select, returns with another collective noun driven title similar to A Mischief of Mice. A Fluffle of Bunnies center around a missing rabbit being searched for by a scurry of squirrels who question animals groups such as a ballet of swans, a charm of goldfinches and an army of frogs about any possible sightings of her. Back matter reiterates the collective nouns for each animals and adds a few behavioral tidbits as well. Developing children’s vocabulary appears to be a primary focus for Matheson as she uses several excellent choices for the simple word “asked” including implored and inquired as well as sliding in adjectives like shifty and gracefully, the noun squall in place of the simpler storm or wind and plenty of emotions and ways of moving that will allow for not only vocabulary growth but audience participation and reenactments to augment that growth. Throughout the book, Matheson’s full page, watercolor illustrations provide plenty of talking points in areas of habitat and animal behavior.
A perfect book for toddlers through grade 3 with likely high appeal to animal lovers and certainly those teaching that age group.
Thanks for the print arc, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky.
A perfect book for toddlers through grade 3 with likely high appeal to animal lovers and certainly those teaching that age group.
Thanks for the print arc, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
With soft rhymes and soft pictures, A Fluffle of Bunnies tells the story of the squirrels’ search for a rabbit who played near them in the field. The squirrels trek through the fields and surrounding forests asking all of the animals they encounter if they’ve seen the bunny. Every animal responds with a no. Finally, the bears give the squirrels a hint that the rabbit might be in a nest! As the perplexed squirrels wonder, the mystery is solved when rabbit appears with her fluffle of bunnies. The author uses uncommon collective nouns to describe the different animal groups.
Children who are use becoming fascinated with language and enjoy words that are ;fun’ to say, such as a kaleidoscope of butterflies, will want repeat readings. And, their parents, will enjoy learning the collective nouns along with them.
Children who are use becoming fascinated with language and enjoy words that are ;fun’ to say, such as a kaleidoscope of butterflies, will want repeat readings. And, their parents, will enjoy learning the collective nouns along with them.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to Sourcebooks Kids and NetGalley for this digital advanced copy.
I was looking forward to this one, thanks to the sweet cover and cute title. Unfortunately it fell flat. The illustrations are nice, though a little variation would have been appreciated. Half of the book seemed to flow well, by the other half of the words could use some reworking to fit the poetic lilt.
Collective nouns aside, this story seemed to drag a bit. This was fine for a one time read, but it’s not one we would add to our repeat collection.
I was looking forward to this one, thanks to the sweet cover and cute title. Unfortunately it fell flat. The illustrations are nice, though a little variation would have been appreciated. Half of the book seemed to flow well, by the other half of the words could use some reworking to fit the poetic lilt.
Collective nouns aside, this story seemed to drag a bit. This was fine for a one time read, but it’s not one we would add to our repeat collection.
October 29, 2025
I received an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoy Matheon's Tap the Magic Tree, but this didn't spark for me the same way that did. A bunny in a field is missing, and various groups of animals wonder where she went. The big appeal here is the names for different groups of animals (a banditry of chickadees is wonderful), and could spark a creative discussion with kids about collective nouns.
I really enjoy Matheon's Tap the Magic Tree, but this didn't spark for me the same way that did. A bunny in a field is missing, and various groups of animals wonder where she went. The big appeal here is the names for different groups of animals (a banditry of chickadees is wonderful), and could spark a creative discussion with kids about collective nouns.
November 24, 2025
This is a cute book. Some of the collective nouns I was unfamiliar with. I think that collective nouns may be a little over the head of my three-year-old, but you have to start somewhere. My son loves animals, and some of the collective nouns seem a little bit silly on face value, and the silliness of some of the nouns may be a hook to keep him engaged.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book for review.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book for review.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
This very cute book introduces the reader to the special group names of various critters as they look for their bunny friend-- including but not limited to a scurry of squirrels, a parcel of deer, and a sleuth of bears!
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October 2, 2025A lovely nature based rhyming picture book. Excellent education part at the end about collective nouns. Will be great for story times.
October 13, 2025
I LOVE collective noun books! This is a great example of one!
November 24, 2025
This is a wonderful book to expand a young child’s vocabulary. I had not even heard of some of these collective nouns – words for group of people, animals or things such as a school of fish.
December 21, 2025
Love this book so much!! I will be able to add this to my middle school library and would love to create an interactive bulletin board with animal group names.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews