The locally based creators of the book and toy package THE BUNNY WITH THE BASKET AND THE GOLDEN EGG visit Brookdale College this Thursday — and hit the trail for additional appearances in Little Silver and Shrewsbury — during the lead-up to the Easter holiday.
If the secular merchandising part of the Easter holiday is all about the Bunny, then attention must also be paid to the Chicks — specifically, the three Monmouth County women who formed Just Three Chicks LLC, a partnership that’s been hitting the bunny trail of late to promote its first book-and-toy project, Bunny with the Basket and the Golden Egg.
Created by a trio of Rumson-based “authors, moms and friends” (Jennifer Diehl, Shauna Murray and Lisa Rettino), the Bunny with the Basket storybook is illustrated by Little Silver resident Brian Meulener — a former advertising art director and current dental student (his father is Little Silver’s own Dr. Carlos Meulener) who studied art with the late and legendary Evelyn Leavens.
This Thursday, March 19, the Just Three Chicks partners will join the Easter Bunny for a 4 pm in-person appearance at the Scroll and Pen Bookstore (inside the Student Life Center at Brookdale Community College) — part of a busy slate of promotional appearances that range from Manhattan to Manasquan, with upcoming stopovers at Sickles Market (Sunday March 22, 2 – 4 pm), Little Silver Public Library (Tuesday March 24, 3:30 pm) and the Williams-Sonoma store at The Grove in Shrewsbury (Saturday March 28, 10 – 11 am).
Chick Lit: A Christmas Eve discussion of family holiday traditions inspired Rumson moms and friends Jennifer Diehl, Shauna Murray and Lisa Rettino to collaborate on the story that became THE BUNNY WITH THE BASKET.
Currently being retailed at some 25 book, toy and gift stores in New York and New Jersey, the book is described as “a children’s Easter story with an interesting twist;” one in which the Easter Bunny (inspired by a note-sharing session with Santa Claus) dispatches his bunny helpers to place golden eggs inside of children’s homes in the nights leading up to the holiday — giving kids the opportunity to communicate with the big Bunny directly (and to awake each morning to a new and thrilling hunt for the egg). It’s a story that brings the generations-old family traditions of the holiday up to date with our connected, interactive world — and it comes packaged with a plush “bunny helper,” in a kit designed to inspire kids to “revel in hunting for the golden egg” and “enjoy receiving notes from the Easter Bunny, with an opportunity to write back.”
The project represents the culmination of a dream for the threesome of first-time children’s book authors — Diehl (a former teacher who volunteers for such organizations as The Foundation to Save the Jersey Shore, Monmouth Park Charity Fund, and the Junior League), Murray (a veteran of the insurance and financial service industry who works on a consultative basis while raising her daughters), and Rettino (a former pharmaceutical advertising executive and free-lance account person who “spends her free time volunteering at her daughters’ elementary school”). As a special offer keyed to St. Patrick’s Day, Just Three Chicks is offering free shipping on all online orders placed via the book’s website, through 11:59 pm on March 18 (use code LUCKY at checkout).
More info, including a detailed schedule of upcoming author-and-Easter Bunny appearances, can be found right here.
