Bunnys Numbers

Some books change the course of history. Others gently teach small humans that the number three comes after two and that rabbits are surprisingly good educational assistants. Bunny’s Numbers (1985) by Dick McCue belongs proudly to the second category — a cheerful little expedition into the mathematical universe as seen through the twitching nose of a very helpful bunny.

Published in 1985, a time when children’s books were brightly coloured, reassuringly simple, and blissfully unaware that one day they might compete with tablets, apps and animated number-learning robots, Bunny’s Numbers offers a charmingly straightforward mission: introduce young minds to the mysterious sequence known as counting. No complicated algorithms. No existential dread about spreadsheets. Just numbers, pictures and a rabbit doing his very best to help the next generation master the dizzying intellectual leap from one carrot to two carrots.

Dick McCue approaches the task with admirable confidence. Each page gently nudges the reader along the great numerical staircase of childhood: one thing, two things, perhaps three things if the reader is feeling particularly ambitious. The bunny, meanwhile, seems to take his role extremely seriously. This is not a casual rabbit. This is a rabbit committed to the educational project, a rabbit who believes deeply in the transformative power of early arithmetic. Somewhere between page four and page seven one suspects he may have briefly considered a career in teaching.

Of course, books like this possess a peculiar magic for adults as well. They are time machines disguised as picture books. Open the cover and suddenly it is the mid-1980s again, when educational publishing relied on bright illustrations, thick paper and the quiet assumption that a cheerful animal plus a number equals enlightenment. Long before children were told to “gamify their learning experience”, Bunny was simply counting things and getting on with it.

There is also something deeply comforting about the modest ambition of a book like this. Modern educational systems often speak in grand terms about outcomes, frameworks and measurable competencies. Bunny’s Numbers has a simpler philosophy: here is a rabbit, here are some numbers, let us proceed calmly from one to ten without alarming anyone. It is mathematics stripped back to its purest, most carrot-adjacent form.

This Crappy Old Books copy is in very good condition, meaning it has survived the decades with admirable resilience. One imagines it has done its duty faithfully — perhaps assisting one small child through the early stages of numerical discovery before retiring gracefully to a bookshelf. Unlike many educational tools, it asks nothing more of you than the occasional page turn and a mild appreciation for rabbits who take counting seriously.

And that is the quiet charm of Bunny’s Numbers. It is not trying to revolutionise mathematics or produce the next generation of theoretical physicists. It simply offers a friendly introduction to numbers, delivered by a rabbit who appears to have an excellent grasp of both carrots and pedagogy.

A delightful little relic from the golden age of cheerful learning books — perfect for collectors of vintage children’s titles, nostalgic readers who remember when counting involved paper rather than touchscreens, or anyone who believes that if mathematics must be taught, it might as well be done by a bunny. 

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