Once upon a time—before Dog Man and Captain Underpants—lived The Dumb Bunnies, a hilarious picture-book series by Dav Pilkey that was in high rotation at our house.
I was intrigued when my oldest daughter, a speech therapist, told me she uses The Dumb Bunnies to teach language skills at a therapeutic day school for grades 1-12. She says the subversive humor draws students in and sparks their creativity.
The story follows the bunny family as they ice skate underwater, bowl in the library, and picnic at a car wash. It parodies traditional picture book conventions with visual humor and absurd situations. The bunnies never get wiser, but the reader feels smarter than the characters.
And that’s where it shines. The book is perfect for teaching skills like inferencing, problem-solving, sequencing, predicting, and critical thinking. Who knew a book that calls itself “too dumb to win an award” could do all that? The kids’ favorite activity is writing their own Dumb Bunnies books using Dav Pilkey's formula. My next post will feature a tip sheet with some language-building ideas.
If you’re looking for newer funny picture books for this exercise, try Bathe the Cat by Alice McGinty and illustrated by David Roberts (Chronicle Books, 2022), Don’t Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson and illustrated by Dan Santat (Dial Books, 2025), and The Bear Out There by Jess Hanigan (Quill Tree Books, 2025)
But if you must have the OGs, check out The Dumb Bunnies (1994), The Dumb Bunnies’ Easter (1995), Make Way for Dumb Bunnies (1996), The Dumb Bunnies Go to the Zoo (1997).