Rabbit Hill (Puffin Newberry Library)

Rating:
Summary: Didn't fly as a read-aloud story
Review: I read this book earlier in the year and I got so bored while reading it, I almost didn't finish it. The beginning was so boreing I actually fell asleep reading it! The ending however, wasn't so bad. It was actually quite suspenseful. All in all, I think that younger children would enjoy it more than teens and adults.

Rating:
Summary: Rabbit Hill
Review: On a hill in the peaceful Connecticut countryside stands an old foursquare house, in which for many years there lived a family of good Folks. They respected the Small Animals that shared their Hill, their children played hide-and-seek with them on warm evenings and their old lady Spaniel even raised an orphaned fox cub. Then they moved away, and hard times fell upon the Hill. The Small Animals, forced to do their "marketing" in Fat-Man-at-the-Crossroads' garden, have wondered for a long time whether they would ever get such Folks again. Now, at last, New Folks are coming, and the question in every Animal's mind is, what kind of Folks will they be?

"Rabbit Hill" is perhaps Lawson's best-known book, though he wrote many that deserve to be returned to print. Based upon the actual hill on which he lived, it follows the adventures of the Rabbit family, Father (a Southern gentleman from the Kentucky Bluegrass who talks like a dictionary), Mother (a chronic worrier), Little Georgie, and the permanently-visiting Uncle Analdas, and their many animal neighbors--Willie Fieldmouse and his vast family, the forgetful Gray Squirrel, Foxy, Phewie the Skunk, old Porky the Groundhog, the Red Deer and his Doe and Fawn, Mole for whom Willie must often "be eyes," and more. His Animals are drawn lovingly and accurately both in words and pictures (he did his own illustrations) and behave recognizably as we might expect them to do if they were intelligent enough to speak to one another. And there's a surprising amount of excitement for such a short book: Georgie's flight from a pursuing dog and his remarkable leap across Dead Man's Brook, the question of whether the Folks will be Good Folks or not, and the aftermath of Georgie's mishap with a car on the Black Road. The close of the tale is heart-warming and beautiful. This is a kids' book to which I return over and over.

Rating:
Summary: Saw a rabbit hopping there, knocking on my door
Review: The wide range of Newbery Award winning books never ceases to amaze me. Having finished the intense and revolutionary (ho ho) "Johnny Tremain" I moved onto the next winner in line. This turned out to be "Rabbit Hill" by the incomparable Robert Lawson. Having already garnered an award for the Newbery winning "Adam of the Road", (a book he did not write himself) as well as a Caldecott for the misguided, "They Were Strong and Good", Lawson finally goes whole hog and gets a Newbery for a book he both wrote AND illustrated. "Rabbit Hill" is a charming little tale about a group of small animals of the wild and the farmland they love.

As the book opens, things have been going poorly for the little animals living by a deserted farmland. The house has been empty for years, letting the fields and gardens go to pot in the meantime. Without a steady supply of food, animals are leaving their homes in the hopes of doing better elsewhere. Suddenly gossip begins, suggesting that perhaps the house will be occupied by a new family soon. The chant of "New Folks coming" is taken up by everyone from the fieldmice to the gray fox to our hero Little Georgie the rabbit. Little Georgie is particularly boisterous in his joy, going so far as to fetch his family's Great Uncle Analdus in the hopes that soon there will be plenty of food for all. When the family moving into the house arrives everything seems to be perfect. That is, until a tragic night involving Little Georgie, a dark road, and an oncoming vehicle.

The book seems to have a bit of difficulty figuring out how to characterize the animals in it. On the one hand they're just like any woodland creatures you might find. They rely on storing food for the winter months ahead. They understand the dangers inherent in poisons, cars, traps, dogs, cats, etc. They live in the woods and have the kinds of concerns any animal might have. On the other hand, they seem to own a lot of household equipment (rakes, lunch sacks, rocking chairs, framed prints, etc.). They speak regularly, sometimes to humans. There's even some mention of Willie the Fieldmouse easing his belt a hole or two after copious eating (though the accompanying illustrations make it very clear that the animals do not wear clothing). All in all, this book belongs squarely in the world of Beatrix Potter, more than anything else. It's an odd nebulous world where animals have distinctly human characteristics, yet their relationships to humans and predators remain intact.

As for the story itself, it's very sweet and simple. I don't think you'll find yourself especially blown away by anything it has to say. It doesn't, for example, have the sly wit of "Wind in the Willows" or the political bent of books like, "Watership Down". The story does say one or two good things about prejudice and hatred, but only briefly and at the end. There's also an oblique reference to World War II (the book was originally published in 1944) but that's as trapped in time as it gets. Instead, the book has a timeless quality to it. Should you wish to read it to your kids, I recommend pairing it with the more recent and delightful "Poppy" by Avi. The two would go particularly well together, I think.

"Rabbit Hill" may not strike some as particularly important, but I am certain that there are millions of adults out there with fond memories of Little Georgie's Southern gentleman father (prone to sentences that includes phrases like, "That is precisely the subject on which I wished to consult you"), his curmudgeonly uncle (who avoids kohl-rabi because he doesn't hold with "foreign vittles"), and his perpetually worried mama. The book has a simple lighthearted charm that I'm certain will engross children even today. For some great bedtime reading involving fluffy characters (drawn, I needn't add, expertly by Lawson's steady hand), "Rabbit Hill"'s a good pick. Fun and frolicsome. Frolicsome and fun.