Rabbits

Peter Rabbit and Company

As classic rabbit tales go, the best-known of all is surely Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which first appeared in 1902, and since has sold over 150 million copies in 35 different languages. If you have not yet acquired one of these, my only advice is that when you do, get an edition with the original Potter illustrations. For reasons that pass understanding, a scattering of publishers have produced Peters illustrated by other people. Don’t fall for it.

	The Tale of Peter Rabbit has the original text and illustrations online.
	The Peter Rabbit website has a photo-illustrated biography of Beatrix Potter, information on the book characters, games and animations for kids, and more.
	From First School, The Tale of Peter Rabbit has activities for preschoolers to accompany a reading of Potter’s Peter Rabbit. Included are printable paper crafts and an “R is for Rabbit” project.
	Mr. McGregor’s Garden Sticker Activity Book (Dover Publications) comes equipped with many vegetables and rabbits. Also from Dover is The Tale of Peter Rabbit Coloring Book, with black-line illustrations and text from the book.
	Alma Flor Ada’s picture book Dear Peter Rabbit (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1997) is a series of letters among favorite picture-book characters, among them Peter Rabbit, the Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and Baby Bear, and Red Riding Hood.  For ages 4-9.
	Jane Johnson’s The True Story of Peter Rabbit: How a Letter Became a Beloved Children’s Classic (Puffin, 2006) is a picture-book account of how Potter’s clever illustrated letter to a young friend grew into the first of 23 wonderful children’s books – which, incidentally, include several others featuring rabbits, among them The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, and The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit. Infuriatingly, it is out of print, but used copies are cheap and available.
	Miss Potter is a 2006 movie about Beatrix Potter’s life and work, with Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter and Ewan McGregor as Norman Warne, her publisher, with whom she fell in love. It’s rated PG for “mild language.”
	Linda Lear’s Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2008) is a comprehensive biography for teenagers and adults.
	Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit isn’t the only one. Author/naturalist Thornton Burgess wrote over 150 animal books for children, starring such characters as Peter Rabbit, Reddy Fox, Little Joe Otter, Jimmy Skunk, and Johnny Chuck. Intended for ages 5-10, these short chapter books combine story and personality – the animals talk – with realistic depictions of animal behaviors and habitats. See the complete list of Burgess titles here.

Tricky Rabbits

	Zomo, the too-clever-for-his-own-good black rabbit in Gerald McDermott’s Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa (Sandpiper, 1996), has asked the Sky God for wisdom, in exchange for which he must deliver the scales of the Big Fish of the sea, the milk of the Wild Cow, and the tooth of the Leopard. He manages, through outrageous trickery, to obtain all three – and then learns that wisdom sometimes consists of knowing when to run away fast. A brilliantly illustrated picture book for ages 4-8.
	Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus stories are collections of African-American folktales – starring the tricky and irrepressible Brer Rabbit – first published in book form in 1881. They can be heavy going, since Chandler’s books are written in a form of Deep-South dialect. (“’Mawnin’!’ sez Brer Rabbit, sezee – ‘nice wedder dis mawnin’, sezee.”) Check out Chandler’s Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings online. Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales, adapted by Julius Lester (Dial, 1999) is a modernized version of the stories – there’s an occasional jarring reference to shopping malls and jogging suits – but by and large it keeps the flavor of the originals, while making them more accessible to children. The short stories – of which there are many in this book; it’s nearly 700 pages long – are appropriate for ages 4 and up.
	The Adventures of Brer Rabbit and Friends, adapted by Karima Amin (Dorling Kindersley, 1999) is a 64-page collection of ten popular Harris tales, along with background information on the African storytelling tradition and a wonderful picture map of “Brer Rabbit’s World.” For ages 6 and up.
	The Wren’s Nest, Joel Chandler Harris’s home in Atlanta, Georgia, is now a museum.