Above, is my absolute favorite page in the book. Below you see the mother bunny with her adorable children all lined up to meet the Grandfather Bunny. (the pages are out of order).
What I didn't know is that the book would make me cry. Last year was the first year we had the book and I sat down with my two little bunnies to read the book the message and lessons of the story hit hard.
The Mother Cottontail has dreams of becoming one of the Easter Bunnies (there are five in this story) but before these dreams are realized she has 21 bunnies. That's a lot of work. But she does a beautiful job of raising each bunny to have a job or hone a skill so that each of them participate in the life of the family. Then one day the Grandfather Bunny calls for a competition to fill one of the slots for Easter Bunny. By meeting her he sees that she is wise, kind, swift and clever. So she becomes the fifth Easter Bunny....I won't ruin the rest of the story for you. This book was written in 1939 and the messages it contains are well beyond its time period.
Although it fits in beautifully with my feminist-Free to Be You and Me childhood exposure. You are never quite sure how you turn out the way you did until you see and hear the messages that were with you growing up.
Below is another page that captured my imagination. The bunnies all snuggled up four to a bed always fascinated me. My own daughter stared and stared at this page speculating how it would be to sleep with BB's feet in her face.
Exactly the message I was hoping she'd take away from the book.
Do you have any favorite Easter stories? Movies?
2 comments:
Oh. My. Goodness! Next to Make Way for Ducklings, this is one of my favorite books of all time. I also cried the first time I read it to my kids. In fact, I cry every time I read it, truth be told. Sssshhh! Don't tell my kids, but I have MY OWN copy that they were never allowed to touch. Yes, there are two books of that story in my house. Love. Love. Love.
Love reading special stories to our kids. Tears, emotions, stories, and new memories. SO GOOD!
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