Thursday, August 15, 2013

Rabbit HIll

Finished Rabbit Hill written and illustrated by Robert Lawson. It won the Newbery Medal in 1945. All the animals living adjacent to an empty house are anticipating the arrival of new owners. Will they revive the large vegetable gardens? Will they share their bounty with their animal neighbors? Or will they set traps and put out poison instead? This micro-society has the usual types of characters, the leader, the daredevil, the naysayer. The "New Folks" turn out to be wonderfully benevolent. It almost seems as if they plant their vegetables specifically for the animals to consume. The story is a bit facile, but the illustrations are richly drawn. I couldn't help think of Richard Adams' masterpiece Watership Down which I so enjoyed just a year ago.

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