Review: MY FRIEND RABBIT by Eric Rohmann

1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rohmann, Eric. 2003. MY FRIEND RABBIT. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc. ISBN 0439579309

2.      PLOT SUMMARY

Mouse is an understanding friend to his well-meaning, but accident prone companion Rabbit. As Mouse says on the opening page, “My friend Rabbit means well, but whatever he does… trouble follows.” This story follows Rabbit and Mouse as Rabbit tries to help Mouse fly his plane. In the beginning, Rabbit launches Mouse in his toy plane, only to land it in a tree. The tale continues with Rabbit gathering various animals to form a tower and reach the plane wedged in the tree. When the inevitable happens, and all of the rather disgruntled and confused animals tumble to the ground, Mouse reminds the reader that Rabbit means well and is his friend. With the plane recovered, one might assume that this narrative has come to a conclusion, but instead it closes with the plane back in the tree and the ever-positive rabbit coming up with another idea.

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Friendship is one of the joys of childhood and all of life. This engaging tale, by Eric Rohmann, features friendship at its best. Mouse is the embodiment of patience; an understanding friend who sees the best in his friend, while Rabbit is full of life and mishaps. For his part, Rabbit demonstrates caring and helpfulness to Mouse throughout this tale. This simply-styled narrative is full of meaning.The very simple plot of the story is full of humor and is easy for children to relate to. The humor is evident in the comical expressions of confusion and then anger on the faces of the animals recruited by Rabbit, and the dismayed look on Mouse's face as Rabbit "helps" him.

 The boldness of the text, and the limited number of words used go well with the simple pictures with their bold black outlines. The thick, black, looping and swirling dotted lines create a sense of movement and energy as they draw the reader’s eye along the page. Double-page illustrations lead onto the next page and spark children's imaginations, causing them to try to predict what Rabbit will do next, and what animal he will drag into his scheme. This book is prime material for teaching the skill of making predictions. Interest is added when the reader has to turn the book sideways as the animals are stacked vertically across the page.

4.      REVIEW EXCERPTS

The 2003 Caldecott Medal Book

Publisher’s Weekly review: “This gentle lesson in patience and loyalty, balanced on the back of a hilarious set of illustrations, will leave young readers clamoring for repeat readings”

Common Sense Media review: “Award-winning book with great preschool lessons.”

Kirkus Reviews: “Young readers and pre-readers will chortle at the silliness of it all while enjoying the sometimes-demanding friendship between these disparately sized chums.”

5. CONNECTIONS

This story is an excellent way to lead in to a discussion about friendship skills. Both Rabbit and Mouse are caring friends. Mouse demonstrates patience and understanding in the face of Rabbit’s unconditional and enthusiastic friendship. A cross-curricular follow-up to a read-aloud of this story would be to have children write and illustrate an original story about their best friend and what makes that friend unique.

 Second grade students who listened to this story enjoyed the humor of the accident-prone rabbit and the expressions on the faces of the poor, unfortunate animals; and thought that Mouse was also a very good friend.