''Pat the Bunny'' is the first "touch and feel"

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

, written and illustrated by

Dorothy Kunhardt Dorothy Kunhardt (née Dorothy Meserve; September 29, 1901 – December 23, 1979) was an American children's-book author, best known for the baby book ''Pat the Bunny.'' She was also a historian and writer about the life of U.S. President Abraha ...

. Since its publication in 1940, it has been a perennial

best-seller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...

in the United States. Rather than follow a linear narrative, the book invites the reader to engage in tactile activities, such as patting the fake fur of a

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

, feeling

sandpaper upright=1.35, Sheets of sandpaper with different grit sizes (40 (coarse), 80, 150, 240, 600 (fine)). Sandpaper and glasspaper are names used for a type of coated abrasive that consists of sheets of paper or cloth with abrasive material glued to ...

that stands for "Daddy's scratchy face," trying on "Mummy's ring," reading a book within a book, playing

peekaboo Peekaboo (also spelled peek-a-boo) is a form of play played with an infant. To play, one player hides their face, pops back into the view of the other, and says ''Peekaboo!'', sometimes followed by ''I see you!'' There are many variations: for ...

with a cloth, and gazing into a mirror. It was written and illustrated by author

, who wrote ''Pat the Bunny'' for her three-year-old daughter

Edith Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and var ...

, who went on to become a children's writer herself. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' considered it the first

books ever written. Child development experts, such as pediatrician Pierrette Mimi Poinsett, recommend the book due to its " sensory approach."

Reception and legacy

As of 2006, ''Pat the Bunny'' had sold over 6 million copies, making it the number-6 all-time bestselling children's hardcover book, according to Publishers Weekly. Kunhardt's daughter Edith Kunhardt Davis wrote three companions: ''Pat the Cat'' in 1984, ''Pat the Puppy'' in 1991, and ''Pat the Pony'' in 1997. The publisher,

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, has developed an entire line of related products. In 2000,

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production comp ...

discussed creating a TV series based on the book. The book continues to be popular, appearing as eleventh best selling children's illustrated book for the week of June 15, 2006. Golden Press makes more than a quarter million copies a year. In August 2004, Classic Media and Evergreen Concepts partnered to help promote the Pat the Bunny brand. On March 4, 2008, a DVD of the book was released with interactive materials included and an interview with Jean Kunhardt, the author's granddaughter. In 2011, Random House Children's Books released a ""pat the bunny"" app, inspired by the original book, for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch which received critical acclaim. In a season 23 episode of

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

Lillias White Lillias White (born July 21, 1951) is an American actress and singer. She is particularly known for her performances in Broadway musicals. In 1989 she won an Obie Award for her performance in the Off-Broadway musical ''Romance in Hard Times''. In ...

read the book to a Baby Honker, when Benny Rabbit hops over, thinking that they're mentioning him as a bunny. The Baby Honker pets him, to which Lillias says "she's patting the Benny". There have been parodies of the book also, such as ''Pat the Politician'', mocking contemporary political figures, and ''Pat the

Yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...

'', which includes activities like touching the sheepskin seatcovers of their new BMW and rubbing the exposed brick of their new condominium's wall. The proceeds from ''Pat the Bunny'' support I Am Your Child, a national public awareness campaign created by the Reiner Foundation to stress the importance of early brain development.

References

{{reflist 1940 children's books American picture books Books about rabbits and hares Golden Books books Western Publishing DreamWorks Classics