Park Slope Library Knuffle Bunny Statue To Be Unveiled This Week

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A years-long effort to bring the statue of beloved children's book character Knuffle Bunny to the Park Slope Library will finally become a reality this week.

The bunny statue — known from former Park Sloper Mo Willems' award winning children's book "Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale" — will be unveiled in the library's reading garden Thursday morning. Willems will also be there to read the story, which tells the tale of toddler Trixie traveling through Park Slope with her favorite stuffed animal.

The new statue marks the end of a long campaign to bring Knuffle Bunny to the library's garden.

Community Board 6 unanimously voted in favor of the idea last year after it was first pitched by Friends of Park Slope Library in 2015. The project was among the winners of Councilman Brad Lander's Participatory Budgeting in 2016.

Back then, library officials told board members that the statue would be a bronze 18-to 24-inch piece that would sit on one of the seats of the outdoor storytelling garden at the 431 Sixth Ave. library. The estimated price at the time was $6,000.

Library officials said this week it will be funded by the family of Jane Bethge Lynch and was sculpted by Chad Rimer. Calvert Wright Architecture provided pro bono architectural services and helped with the Landmarks Preservation Commission application process for the project, officials said.

The Knuffle Bunny story features various locations in the neighborhood, including a laundromat on Sixth Avenue and Fifth Street, P.S. 107 and Prospect Park.

Willems won the American Library Association Caldecott Honor for the Knuffle Bunny story, which made the tale one of three books he was given the award for. The other two include Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!.

In 2019, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC named Mo the first-ever Education Artist-in-Residence. Willems began his career as a writer and animator on Sesame Street, where he garnered six Emmy Awards.

The author will be joined at the event by Lander, Rimer and various library officials. The unveiling will take place at 10:30 a.m.