Front endpaper
p. 1 — verso
Title page
p. 2 — recto
Front endpaper (left) glued to inside cover. Title page (right) is the first thing the reader sees on opening.
Dedication
p. 3 — verso
"My name is Pink."
"I am a bunny."
p. 4 — recto
Pink alone on the shelf. Waiting, though she doesn't know it yet.
Jessie's hands, reaching down
p. 5 — verso
"Then Jessie came home."
p. 6 — recto
Full bleed spread. The hands stay safely left of the spine. Pink looks upward from the right.
"After that, I went everywhere."
p. 7 — verso
High chair — Pink watching Jessie eat
p. 8 — recto
Three vignette panels across two pages. The gutter falls between panels naturally.
"Jessie carried me like I was the most important thing in the world."
"I think I was."
p. 9 — verso
The park extends — background breathes
p. 10 — recto
Full bleed park scene. Jessie and Pink stay safely on the left page.
"On hard nights, she held me tighter."
p. 11 — verso
"I couldn't make the thunder stop."
"But I stayed."
p. 12 — recto
Dark spread. Both pages unified in darkness. Pink's eye is the only warmth.
"Every night, we went to sleep together."
p. 13 — verso
"I know every part of her."
"The way she smells. The sound she makes when she's almost asleep."
p. 14 — recto
Warm and intimate. Both pages golden-dark. Pink's eyes look out at the reader on page 14.
"Then one morning, everything felt different."
p. 15 — verso
Pink on the bed, watching — for the first time, not being carried
p. 16 — recto
The gutter first separates Jessie (left) from Pink (right). A quiet visual foreshadowing.
"Jessie picked me up."
p. 17 — verso
"Then she put me down."
p. 18 — recto
The spine physically separates these two moments. Held (left) — set down (right). The binding does the emotional work.
"She walked out the door."
"Without me."
p. 19 — verso
The door, almost shut. The hallway empty.
p. 20 — recto
Maximum white space. Pink is tiny on the left. The door is closed on the right. Emptiness is the art.
"I waited."
p. 21 — verso
Pink alone. Surrounded by white space. Time passes.
p. 22 — recto
The most important spread. One word on the left. Pink tiny and alone on the right. Let the silence be the art.
"I don't know what happened at school."
p. 23 — verso
"I wasn't there."
p. 24 — recto
The clock shows time has passed. The light has shifted. Pink hasn't moved. The right page is just empty room — her absence fills it.
"But then the door opened."
p. 25 — verso
The door opens. Golden light. Jessie at the threshold.
p. 26 — recto
The warm light on the right page floods across the gutter and warms the left page too — the first warmth since the storm spread.
"She came back."
"I was there."
"That was enough."
p. 27 — verso
Pink was just a bunny. But she was her bunny. And that was everything.
p. 28 — recto
Pink's eyes look directly at the reader on page 27 — the only moment in the book she truly holds your gaze. The closing reflection is quiet and spare on page 28.
Michael Khela is a writer and illustrator. This book was inspired by a real pink bunny, and by all the children who know exactly what it means to carry something small and love it completely.
p. 29 — verso
Back endpaper — look closely. One bunny has a tiny backpack.
p. 30 — glued to inside back cover
The back endpaper mirrors the front. One bunny in the lower right has a backpack. It rewards readers who look twice.