GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 2005
Emily Gravett
London: MacMillan, 2005
32 pp
Ages: 5 +
Interests: animals, rabbits, wolves
A thoroughly modern cautionary tale about library books and carnivores. Black humour makes this only suitable for children who will find it funny!
With few words, and in a scrapbooky style, we see the clueless Mr. G. Rabbit take a book about wolves out from the library. As he walks home with his nose buried in the book he doesn’t notice the dark figures dogging his steps until it’s too late. (Perhaps the information regarding what wolves eat would have been more useful to Mr. Rabbit had it appeared sooner in his book!) The sight of a violently clawed book tells us the bunny’s fate… though on the next page the author assures us that no rabbits were killed to make this book: “It is a work of fiction.” And we are given an alternative ending in which the rabbit and wolf are friends. However the final page consists of a pile of unopened mail for Mr. G. Rabbit (debt collectors, overdue book notice).
Very dark and very funny, but again, not for everyone!
the moment of realization...
Rarest Kind of Best 