Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale is a 2004 picture book written by Mo Willems.
It tells the tale of a little girl, Trixie, going to do laundry with her daddy, bringing along her favorite stuffed toy, the titular Knuffle Bunny. Trixie has fun on the errand, but leaves her bunny at the laundromat by mistake. Upon realizing this, Trixie begs her father to go back and get her bunny... but since she's too young to talk, her dad has no idea what she's trying to say.
The book won the 2005 Caldecott Medal, and spawned two sequels. The first sequel, Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity, featured Trixie three years after the original book, losing the bunny in kindergarten. The trilogy was completed with Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion, in which a slightly older Trixie loses her bunny on a plane. Three animated short films based on each book were produced (all narrated by Mo Willems and his daughter Trixie), as was a musical play.
Tropes in the stories include:
- Animated Adaptation: There are animated shorts based on the books, done in the same art style and narrated by the author and his daughter.
- Baby's First Words: The first book ends with Trixie saying her first words, "Knuffle Bunny!"
- Bilingual Bonus: "Knuffel" means plush toy in Dutch.
- Bumbling Dad: Trixie's dad never notices that she's missing Knuffle Bunny, even after Trixie howls and screams for seemingly no reason, until he gets home and his wife asks where it is. He does ultimately find the toy, however.
- Cheerful Child: Trixie is a very playful toddler, clutching her stuffed bunny and dancing around with clothes on her head in the laundromat. Once she loses Knuffle Bunny, however, she is anything but cheerful until she gets it back.
- Eyedscreen: In the animation for Knuffle Bunny, Too, the camera narrows on the eyes of Sonia's bunny when Trixie first lays eyes on it.
- First Friend: The second book is about Trixie going to school and becoming rivals with another girl named Sonia who has a Knuffle Bunny. By the end of the book, Sonia becomes Trixie's first friend.
- Framing Device: The animated shorts are framed by animated versions of Mo and Trixie reading the Knuffle Bunny books together.
- Here We Go Again!: Not in the book proper, but the animated version of Knuffle Bunny, Too has Mo and Trixie imagine a scenario in which Trixie and Sonia accidentally take home the wrong bunnies again after playing together at school.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Trixie is a little girl who always carries around her stuffed bunny.
- GIS Syndrome: The settings take place in a real life setting using stock images while the characters are hand drawn.
- Lost Toy Grievance: All three books feature Trixie losing her favorite toy, Knuffle Bunny, in different ways:
- In the original Knuffle Bunny, little Trixie is a toddler who can't speak yet, which means the loss of the titular character—her beloved stuffed rabbit—is even more serious, because she can't communicate what's wrong. Her Bumbling Dad repeatedly misinterprets her cries and screams, but thankfully, her mother immediately sees the problem and sends her husband back to retrieve Knuffle Bunny.
- Knuffle Bunny, Too sees an older Trixie attending kindergarten for the first time, and meeting another girl who has a toy identical to her own Knuffle Bunny. The two children argue constantly and eventually get their bunnies confiscated for the day, but late that night, Trixie realizes that the bunny she's holding is not her toy—the teacher accidentally gave her the other Knuffle Bunny by mistake—and immediately runs to tell her parents. Thankfully, the other girl's family is having the exact same problem across town, and the fathers meet for a midnight toy swap.
- Knuffle Bunny Free has Trixie as an eight-year-old girl traveling to meet her grandparents in Europe. She unfortunately leaves Knuffle Bunny behind on the plane; at this point, she doesn't even have to say what's wrong, as her parents immediately figure it out as soon as she walks into the room with a somber expression. Unlike the other books, though, Trixie is able to make peace with the loss of her toy as she imagines Knuffle Bunny traveling around the world on adventures. When the family boards the plane to return to America, they are surprised to find Knuffle Bunny in a seat compartment, making this seem like a case of Sweet and Sour Grapes—only for Trixie to freely choose to give up the rabbit to a crying baby to make him feel better, a sign that she is growing up. The baby's grateful parents thank her by sending her letters, giving Trixie her first-ever pen pal.
- Medium Blending: The books place two-dimensional character artwork over live action photographs of New York City.
- Motor Mouth: By the second book, not only has Trixie learned to talk, she talks a lot.
- A Minor Kidroduction: Downplayed since Trixie is very young to begin with, but the first page before the story begins shows an image of her as a newborn baby.
- Oh, Crap!: After walking a block from the laundromat, Trixie realizes she doesn't have her bunny, and her eyes grow wide in horror.
- Prized Possession Giveaway: In the book "Knuffle Bunny Free", Knuffle Bunny is Trixie's favourite toy, but eventually, she gives him up to a Screaming Plane Baby.
- Production Throwback: One of the minor characters in the animated short has a T-shirt with the Pigeon on it.
- Time Skip: Knuffle Bunny, Too takes place three years after the first book, putting Trixie in kindergarten and allowing her to say words. The third book, Knuffle Bunny Free, takes place when Trixie's a little bit older.
- Tuckerization: Trixie is named after the author's daughter, Trixie Willems, who also narrates the short film. In the final book, Willems writes an epilogue to his daughter, who had become an adult by then.
- Vacation Episode: The final book has Trixie's family visit Holland, only for Trixie to accidentally leave Knuffle Bunny on the plane.
- You Say Tomato: In the second book, Trixie and Sonia fight over whether "Knuffle" is pronounced like "Kuh-nuffle" or "Nuffle." (The official pronunciation is "Kuh-nuffle.")
