# Is "Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale" by Mo Willems a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems (Hyperion Books for Children, 2004) is identified by: The first printing carries a "First Edition" statement on the copyright page together with a full number line ending in 1; dealers describe first printings as "stated first edition" with a 1 present in the number line. US edition is the true first: Hyperion (New York), 2004, published September 2004.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first printing carries a "First Edition" statement on the copyright page together with a full number line ending in 1; dealers describe first printings as "stated first edition" with a 1 present in the number line
- The book is an oblong quarto issued in illustrated paper-covered boards with a pictorial dust jacket; a first-printing jacket is priced at the flap and, critically, carries NO Caldecott Honor seal on the front panel, since the book was published in September 2004 and the Honor was not announced until January 2005
- Sources consulted did not document the exact direction of the number line, so it is described here only as a full line ending in 1 rather than a specific sequence
- Publisher imprint reads Hyperion Books for Children
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mo Willems |
| Publisher | Hyperion Books for Children |
| Year | 2004 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | The first printing carries a "First Edition" statement on the copyright page together with a full number line ending in 1; dealers describe… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first printing carries a "First Edition" statement on the copyright page together with a full number line ending in 1; dealers describe first printings as "stated first edition" with a 1 present in the number line. The book is an oblong quarto issued in illustrated paper-covered boards with a pictorial dust jacket; a first-printing jacket is priced at the flap and, critically, carries NO Caldecott Honor seal on the front panel, since the book was published in September 2004 and the Honor was not announced until January 2005. Sources consulted did not document the exact direction of the number line, so it is described here only as a full line ending in 1 rather than a specific sequence.

## Is this the true first?
US edition is the true first: Hyperion (New York), 2004, published September 2004. The UK edition from Walker Books (London), ISBN 9781844280599, followed on 4 July 2005 and is a later issue, not a co-first; it is collected only as the first UK appearance. No prior magazine or foreign-language appearance is documented — the census claim of a US-only true first is confirmed.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No dedicated book-club edition is documented. The dominant reprint tell is the silver Caldecott Honor seal printed onto the jacket front panel, which was added to printings after January 2005 — any jacket bearing the seal is a later printing. Later Hyperion/Disney-Hyperion printings advance the number line (dealers routinely catalogue copies as "First Edition; Thirteenth Printing" and similar), and the later special edition (ISBN 9781423144496) and Scholastic/paperback issues are reprints.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale* by Mo Willems a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/knuffle-bunny-a-cautionary-tale
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.