My Friend Rabbit Reviews

• Award winner? Yes. Great book? No.

  
  By A1GALZCXD8FHOR on 2003-06-11
  Winner of the Caldecott Medal for best illustrated American children's book. "My Friend Rabbit" is a good looking, but curiously unengaging book for children. Certainly, it has nice woodblock-style illustrations with saturated colors, but the book suffers from failing to be a good read. It has few words, instead relying primarily on images to tell the story of an unlucky rabbit and his mouse friend that he launches in an airplane ...which inevitably gets stranded in a tree. How the rabbit solves the dilemma of the stuck plane piloted by his tiny buddy gives the story its humor.

  Despite the accolades, books like this suffer from not being a great bedtime read since the narrative is so reliant on the images. And though it is driven by pictures, the story has enough words to make it the kind of book that very young children can't follow completely by merely looking at the illustrations.

  The illustrations are also an issue. While they are clever and well done, I personally do not believe that this was the best illustrated book for children this year. Normally. there is little to debate when it comes to the Caldecott winners and runners-up, but as someone who goes through many children's books with my son, I simply do not agree with the Caldecott jury.

  There are many excellent children's books that marry a great story with outstanding graphics. I found "My Friend Rabbit" to be lacking in the story itself. There is just not much there. My toddler son, who usually responds well to great books by asking for me to read them over and over, never asked for me to read this book more than once. Nor did he pick it up on his own to look at the pictures. There was not enough in the book to hold his interest. Ultimately, that's the best review of all.

  Disappointing.
  
  

• Rabbit has a cunning plan

  
  By AMX0PJKV4PPNJ on 2004-09-30
  There are some books in the world that you can flip through in the bookstore and get a pretty good idea of the plot and characters. Then there are books like "My Friend Rabbit". Roughly a year ago I wanted to know what all the "My Friend Rabbit" fuss was about. I mean, this book was a 2003 Caldecott Award winner after all. I wanted to see why. So I went to my local independent bookstore and flipped through it. I flipped and flipped and was baffled by the heaping helpfuls of praise it had received. My haphazard flipping didn't reveal anything particularly interesting or original in the story. Fast forward a year and I've finally taken the time to sit down and read, "My Friend Rabbit" in its entirety (a process which took me all of 93 seconds). Suddenly I understood why it was so beloved. Though an incredibly simple plot, story, and set of characters, "My Friend Rabbit" is a remarkably beautiful tale of two woodland creatures and their plane related misadventures. It's simple in words and complex in visuals.
  
  As Mouse points out from the beginning, "My friend Rabbit means well. But whatever he does, wherever he goes, trouble follows". That's Mouse's nice way of saying that Rabbit is an all-time screw-up. In this particular outing, Rabbit has managed to get Mouse's brand new airplane (in which Mouse fits like a furry little Lindbergh) stuck in a tree sans Mouse. Quick as a wink Rabbit's off with a, "Not to worry, Mouse. I've got an idea!" thrown over his shoulder. Before you know it he's tugged, dragged, carried, and cajoled a wide variety of animals to stand on one another under the offending tree. Mouse is just able to reach the wing of his plane when the entire group comes crashing to the ground. Rabbit is in big big trouble. Fortunately the plane is now free and two go happily off into the sky. That is, until Rabbit steers them a tad off course. The last words in the book are a too familiar, "Not to worry, Mouse. I've got an idea". Readers can guess what'll happen next.
  
  Ho hum, you say. I've seen stories of this ilk before. I won't contest that. Maybe you've seen a dozen similarly ilked picture books in your day. Maybe you're an old hat in the clumsy-rabbit-gets-in-and-out-of-scrapes genre of storytelling. This might all be the case. But you have never, I say I say, NEVER seen anything like this colorful concoction of animalistic cajolery. First of all, the book in and of itself is beautiful to look at. Filled with hand-colored relief prints spanning a rainbow of different colors, the story looks like a series of cheery rounded woodblock images more than anything else. Rohmann's characters are beautifully expressive and original. Each animal has its own personality and individual traits. From the somewhat perturbed goose to the blissfully unaware hippo, they all act, look, and react in different ways. Rohmann isn't afraid to make use of every inch of page space either. Sometimes an image on one page will be of just rabbit pulling on a trunk. The next two page spread is then completely filled with the elephant as Rabbit hops away for more animalia. Pictures will suddenly becomes vertical as suits the story (as when they're standing on one another to reach the tree). There are even pictures that display nothing more than impending doom. When the animals fall from their tower you get a brief image of the baby geese that didn't participate in the Babel-like construction running for cover, just before the creatures hit. And visual humor has never been so beautifully realized as in this tale. There is a shot of every single animal (save mouse and the still smiling hippo) glaring at Rabbit with undisguised malice after their unintentional plummet. Rabbit, who up until this time has had eyes that were simple black dots, looks straight at the viewer with the whites of his eyes very very visible. It's one of those pictures that says a million different things and could only have been drawn in the last ten years. After all, how many picture books can you name off the top of your head where the hero stares at the viewer in fear?
  
  Not that it really matters, but I fully support the fact that "My Friend Rabbit" won all the awards that it did. Books of its nature are rarities. This tale is funny, touching, beautiful, and engagingly constructed. It is colorful. It is well-thought out. It is a classic in the purest sense of the word. It is a wonderful adventure, a touching tale, and a great great book. I praise it with all the praising strength with which I am endowed. Buy it immediately.
  
  
  

• A caldecott blunder

  
  By on 2003-01-30
  And once again we find that the caldecott has been bestowed upon a book of marginal value, and pedestrian merit.

  I gave this book to my daughter who is 3. We barely got through it-- the story and the art are both so convoluted.
  
  

• An excellent "illustration" of love and friendship

  
  By on 2003-05-18
  My 5 year absolutely loves this book, especially the amazing illustrations. She laughes out loud every time we read it together.

  I once asked her why did the rabbit go through so much trouble to get the plane back for the mouse; she answered "because the rabbit and the mouse are friends." I then asked her why didn't the mouse get mad at the rabbit and just leave; she answered "silly Mommy, I SAID they are friends."

  I applaud Caldecott's choice for its 2003 medal winner.
  
  

• Kids love it!

  
  By on 2003-02-09
  Although I was a little surprised that this book was named the Caldecott winner this year, the first time I read it to a class, I understood why. Kindergartners and first graders absolutely LOVE it! They laughed out loud and covered their eyes as the animals tumbled to the ground. I enjoy it more every time I share it with a group of students. It's first rate!
  
  
• Creative Page Layouts
  By A19ZFHD32VMZMM on 2003-11-09
  Eric Rohmann's book, "My Friend Rabbit," is about a mouse and a rabbit that are very good friends. Rabbit is the friend that is always getting into trouble, and mouse is the friend that always stands by Rabbit's side. In this story, Mouse lets Rabbit play with his new airplane, to which Rabbit gets the airplane stuck in a tree. Rabbit thinks he has the solution as he drags all the animals over to the tree and has them stand head to toe to reach the airplane. However, when the animals plunge to the ground, they are very unhappy with Rabbit. But, Mouse still loves Rabbit, and lets him fly away with him on his airplane.

  In the book, "My Friend Rabbit," Eric Rohmann uses hand colored relief prints for the illustrations. I love the bold colors Rohamann uses in the illustrations to portray a joyful and energetic plot. Beyond coloring, I love Eric Rohmann's use of line in this story. He uses dotted and loopy lines to let the reader follow the airplanes path. I think children will love following the lines of the airplane's path.
  I really enjoyed the use of line on the page with all the animals stacked up to reach the airplane. I think kids will enjoy turning the book to see how high the animals stretched up towards the tree.
  
  

• Well done but flawed
  By A3H5ES4KVTIAEQ on 2003-02-01
  The illustrations in this 2003 Caldecott Medal winner are for the most part, an excellent example of picture book illustration. The eye-catching artwork builds suspense, provides humor and expression, and is instrumental in telling this simple, well constructed story. However, I think that two of the full page spreads create confusion. A single rabbit appears to be four different rabbits in a full page spread attempting to show the rabbit carrying a succession of animals to help retrieve a toy plane. In the same manner, the second to last spread attempts to illustrate the rabbit and mouse flying in the plane. Four planes are shown connected by a dotted line. As a professional librarian and children's book reviewer, I found this layout confusing, as did my colleague and our story hour children. Despite these flaws, this is a good picture book, but not a medal winner in my opinion.
  
  
• Not to Worry Mouse I Have a Review
  By A450Q0M7GR8VF on 2004-06-12
  This was in the nightly reading stack for weeks and returns frequently. The book is short on words and requires you to look at the details before the whole story unfolds. We have had fun as we notice different details the more we read this book. My little one is about to turn 3 and may be on the verge of outgrowing this book. I'll be a little sad when she does.
  
  
• Friends to the End.....
  By A3KCMEJTRQHNAP on 2003-03-13
  "My friend Rabbit means well. But whatever he does, wherever he goes, trouble follows..." So begins our little mouse narrator's tale of the stuck airplane. Generous Mouse let Rabbit take a turn and fly his plane, and now it's sitting out of reach, high in a tree. "Not to worry, Mouse. I've got an idea!" And what a huge idea it is as Rabbit struggles to pull and push an enormous elephant to the tree, and plop him down right under the now stuck airplane. Next he carries a rhino, then a hippo, a deer, an alligator, a bear, and a duck onto the scene, making a tall pyramid with Rabbit poised on top holding Squirrel. "The plane was just out of reach. Rabbit said, "Not to worry, Mouse, I've got an idea." So Rabbit held Squirrel and Squirrel held me... but then..." It can all be summed up in one word, disaster..... Eric Rohmann's spare, witty text is kept to the bare minimum. It's his bold and engaging, Caldecott Medal winning illustrations that really tell this hilarious chain of events story. Each two page spread dazzles with expression, drama, suspense, humor, and marvelous eye-catching details. Little ones will revel in all the captivating fun, and also understand the gentle message of sharing, tolerance, and the importance of friendship. Perfect for preschoolers, My Friend Rabbit is a treasure and soon to be classic that kids will beg to read again and again, and is sure to become an instant favorite at story time.
  
  
• My Friend Rabbit-A Must for all ages
  By A1NYEGD7EV8LOS on 2003-02-04
  Eric Rohmann has not only captured one's attention with the story line but with the illustrations as well. The story works as a total response to freindship for children. Adults that I have watched read the book have a very positive response as well. Children cannot put the book down. One reading the book gets very involved and before you realize what has happened the book is over but the message lingers. I have found all of Rohmann's books extremly interesting and worth reading. The illustrations are beyond the everyday children's book. I only hope to visit with him sometime soon and have the books signed.

  Thanks Eric for a great contribution to Children's Literature.

  Betty Kinser
  Illinois State University
  
  

• A Great Book!
  By A27QWIBRK2MNR3 on 2003-07-16
  I had to read this story for my Children's Literature class at West Virginia State College. I thought this book is a great book. I can see why it was chosen as the 2003 Caldecott Winner. Along with the pictures, the story is great. Although the words are minimal, they are to the point and an easy read. I would recommend this book.
  
  
• Caldecott-worthy
  By on 2003-11-27
  This book, as stated previously, is a true (and great!) picture book in every sense of the word. It ignites the children's vivid imaginations--that would otherwise be 'unimaginative' if it spelled every event out to them--by forcing them to ask questions and or tell the reader (us parents) what they think is going on.

  Lately books are full of words with minimal pictures, but not this one. Thank you Mr. Rohmann for creating an imaginative book with a wonderful message. Kudos!
  
  

• Few words, great graphics, plenty to enjoy! It works!
  By A2WJMYB7SZUC8X on 2005-03-17
  Our daughter took nearly a full year to appreciate this book.
  
  She got it at one year old, and by two years old she can recite every line and describe every page, even when those pages are not in front of her - she does it from memory. She *loves* this book and asks for it several times a day.
  
  The illustrations are wonderful, the quirky storyline is wonderful - for whatever reason, this book has driven itself into our daughter's mind and she cannot get enough of it, and we love reading it to her.... that is, when she is not reading it to us, even though she cannot read yet. She tells us the story from memory, and loves how all the animals go "plopping" after they build a huge animal tower and later fall.
  
  Get this book. If for some reason your child doesn't love it, I'm sure someone else close by will. I don't know why it works, but it sure works with our daughter!
  
  
• Wonderful Story!
  By A38W9T1HSQCH65 on 2006-02-07
  My Friend Rabbit, written and illustrated by Eric Rohmann, won a deserving Caldecott Medal in 2003. Using vibrant colors in his artwork, Rohmann tells how rabbit always, 'has an idea'. As you turn the pages you watch how rabbit's idea gets the best of hisself and his friends, yet Mouse continues to be his friend. This is a great story about friendship told mostly through pictures.
  Eric Rohmann also wrote Clara & Asha, Time Flies and Pumpkinhead.
  
  
• My Friend Rabbit is great!
  By on 2006-02-27
  My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann is a really funny book to read. In the beginning Rabbit threw Mouse's plane too hard and Mouse fell out. Wherever Rabbit goes trouble follows. Rabbit says he has an idea and he gets a lot of animals and stacks them on top of each other to try to get Mouse's plane from out of the tree. The animals all fall but Mouse was hanging on to the plane and he gets the plane out of the tree. Then Mouse takes Rabbit for a ride on his plane because Rabbit is Mouse's best friend.
  
  
• Of a mouse who values friendship more than objects
  By A14OJS0VWMOSWO on 2002-07-13
  In Eric Rohmann's lively story, My Friend Rabbit, Mouse allows his best friend Rabbit play with his new airplane, only to find trouble immediate. It's up to mouse to both preserve his friendship and to figure out an unusual solution to the dilemma of his new toy in this zany and entertaining tale for young readers of a mouse who values friendship more than objects. My Friend Rabbit is recommended for both school and community library collections.
  
  
• A truly delightful children's tale
  By A14OJS0VWMOSWO on 2002-08-05
  Written and illustrated by Eric Rohmann, My Friend Rabbit is a truly delightful children's tale about a mouse who lets his bigger, older best friend Rabbit play with the mouse's airplane. Trouble comes soon after, in this comical, touching, and enthusiastically recommended picturebook story illustrated in enthusiastic color and simple, bold, sweeping, strokes.
  
  
• CLEVER - engaging, playful story & graphics
  By A1BM8U8RVJOASD on 2003-03-16
  My favorite thing about this book is the layout . The illustrations are well suited to the playful storyline and at one point, you need to turn the book vertcally to appreciate the drawing. Good tension build-up that really appeals to kids. Full of animal antics that are especially amusing for children.
  
  
• Grabs my toddlers imagination
  By A8N75YO1TDZWT on 2003-10-22
  This book has very few words and relies on the excellent artwork to tell its story. And that is not a bad thing. My 18 month old adores this book and now he tries to tell the story by looking at the pictures. He weaves his hands about like an out of control plane and rests his palm somewhere up in the air. He pulls his shirt to show how the elephant was pulled and pushes his chest to show how the Rhino was pushed by the rabbit and he has suddenly fallen in love with crocodiles!
  Why only four stars? My son looks at me quizzically when we look at the final stack up - the order in which the animals were carried to the tree is different. I cannot come up with a good reason why it is so. Also, the story conclusion is somewhat hard for a child to follow. They dont have the concept of reaching up for something just beyond your grasp, flailing and falling.
  
  
• Cute little book...
  By A3P08JLLUY9900 on 2004-10-30
  This book got our attention for earning the Caldecott Award. Overall, it is a fun and enjoyable book. The illustrations are bold, simple, and eye catching all at once. It is a very short read, which is sometimes a good thing with little children's attention span!
  It is a tad sad, and funny all at the same time. It made both my son and myself say.."Awww...." for the poor rabbit. A very cute book on friendship and unconditional love though.
  
  
• Rabbit Pulls A Rabbit Out of His Hat!
  By A1SYLII0808HD6 on 2006-07-15
  There's something very old-fashioned about Eric Rohmann's Caldecott-winning illustrations in "My Friend Rabbit." The think outlined forms, simple black eyes, and wide-open compositions recall the best of early Disney and other period animation. Rohmann's every character and nuance is well conceived; for example, the soft, lightly mottled blue-grey background is a reassuring constant in a wild tale full of high-flying twists and turns. Reading the book flap, I discovered that Rohmann used "hand-colored relief prints"; Rohmann's mastery of this technique apparently produced the luminous, vintage animation look.
  
  The story line is simple: "Rabbit" has this grand idea for his friend "Mouse" to fly a plane. When the mouse-plane crashes into a treetop, Rabbit tells his friend: "Not to Worry, Mouse. I've got an idea!" Quick like a bunny, he hops off, and--pushing, pulling, and lifting--he begins collecting a parade of animals, including an elephant, a hippo (similar in shape to the ones famously in "Fantasia"), a deer, an alligator, and a resentful duck and ducklings! This is all visually rich, as hyperkinetic Rabbit hoists some of the larger animals over his head, assembling [turn the page, and look sideways...!] a tower of animals. With the rhino on the bottom looking particularly upset, Mouse climbs the leaning tower, but just as we see him reaching towards the tree that ate his airplane [turn the page]--the animals come tumbling down in a flurry of action and color, their expressions captured perfectly by Rohmann. The next line tells all, "The animals were not happy."
  
  As the glaring animals look increasingly menacing, Mouse swoops down in the (surprise! --Mouse must have successfully jumped to the tree) just-retrieved plane to rescue his friend. Now that was a close one! Rohmann finishes with Mouse's thoughts about the Wild One; perhaps this is how Badger, Mole, and River Rat tolerated Toad's madder moments. Mouse concludes, simply and without adult adornment: "But Rabbit means well. And he is my friend." As the two fly off and crash again into a tree, Mouse will need this acceptance, because Rabbit once again has "an idea." With a classic look, and a story that's a model of engaging simplicity, this is a superb and worthy book.
  
  
• Here we go again!
  By A9IR3C0PHGTOA on 2003-04-19
  Rabbit is a fun loving kind of guy...and he has his share of problems. He is a wonderful problem solver but unfortunately, his solutions often cause more problesm. Poor rabbit! But he doesn't seem worried at all. Unlike his best friend mouse who seems very worried! Children of all ages will enjoy this humorous story of a young rabbit and his friend as they play.
  
  
• My Friend Rabbit
  By A21YFC6VLB1I60 on 2003-09-05
  I loved this book!!!! It is a wonderful book about true friendship. About the love that true friends have no matter what happens between them..... there is always love....and My Friend Rabbit shows that to all of us.
  
  
• Fun; a great addition
  By A9EVBE6MJ4YX4 on 2006-10-24
  I was online looking for new books when I came across this one that we've had for few years-- had to make sure there was a review for it. Of course there's many good ones & one bad. Huh, I said; what's bad about it? I must say I can't agree with the reviewer. 1,) I am happy it won a award for illustrations, but I usually go by my own taste & I think the wood cut style is great. whether it was deserving of an award or not, I think anyone will find the images pleasing; my daughter & I especially liked having to turn the book sideways to see all the animals piled on top of each other. 2,)As for text & the child being able to "read" on their own, I found my daughter was able to recall the gist of the story & she'd make up her own sometimes. And not sure why they though this wasn't a good "bed time book". Too short? not about sleep? Not sure what that meant-- I think it's a fine anytime book. Anyway, Most reviewers found it great & I am sure there're some kids out there that this book just won't call to, but the friendship of the rabbit & mouse is a good lesson and the piling up of the animals is silly. My daughter enjoyed it over & over again. It's a fun book for ages 1-3 I'd say, since the text is short; by 4 yrs old the child may be on to longer text, but it's still a fun book for 4 yr olds.
  
  
• My Friend Rabbit and its predecessor
  By A2HZTTAOGXSXQX on 2007-01-22
  I came across "My Friend Rabbit" recently and found it to be a charming, illustration-driven tale. However I also felt disappointed because of its extreme similarity in theme and execution (if not tone) to one of my children's favorite books "One Seal". Published three years before "My Friend Rabbit", "One Seal" tells the charming illustration-driven tale of a child whose kite slips free while flying at the beach. Page by page a variety of animals, beginning with one seal, happily come to help. They build an improbable tower by standing one another until the runaway kite can be reached. It also has the two page turn-the-book-sideways center piece tower and the cyclic ending. Any of the reviewers who fault "My Friend Rabbit" will also fault "One Seal" but I urge anyone who enjoyed "My Friend Rabbit" to flip through "One Seal" at a library or book store and see for yourself.
  
  
• Charming Story with Delightful Illustrations!
  By A43P0V05RM3SR on 2003-03-03
  Wonderful fun read for elementary and primary children. Holds interest and attention! Children will respond to the story and intereact with it.
  Evelyn Horan - teacher/counselor/author
  Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Book One
  Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Book Two
  
  
• A great picture book!
  By on 2003-07-27
  My Friend Rabbit is a picture book in the truest sense-- it relies on its illustrations rather than its text to tell the story. Understanding a story told through illustrations requires cognitive thinking, more so than absorbing a story passively through the written word alone. Therefore, a picture book requires a more patient, imaginative and helpful reader when it is read to younger children.

  It strikes me that those who have criticized this excellent book may need to stop relying on a book's text alone and brush up on their picture-story-telling skills.

  The Caldecott Jury has justifiably recognized this book.
  
  

• Good way to start talking about certain issues
  By A21NVBFIEQWDSG on 2007-11-30
  Reviewed by Amanda Schafer
  
  Rabbit and mouse are friends, but Rabbit is always getting into mischief. Trouble is never far from where Rabbit goes, and Rabbit always has another idea to make things better.
  
  When the toy plane got stuck in the tree, Rabbit decided to get all the animals to stack on top of each other so he and Mouse could reach the plane. What he didn't count on was the stack of animals crashing down to the ground! But Mouse loves Rabbit because he means well, even though wherever he goes, trouble follows.
  
  This is a very simple book designed for younger ages. It's a fast reading book, but can help start a great discussion in giving the benefit of the doubt, in unconditional love, and in being a faithful friend.
  
  So many things can be learned from this short story, it's no wonder it was a Caldecott Medal winner!
  
  Armchair Interviews says: Talented with words and illustrations.
  
  
• My Friend Rabbit
  By on 2008-02-28
  My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann is so funny. Rabbit and Mouse are friends forever and Mouse's little airplane gets stuck in a tree and he cannot get it down. So Rabbit has an idea to get Mouse's plane. Rabbit brought an elephant, a rhinoceros, a hippo, a duck and her four babies, a deer, a squirrel, an alligator, and a bear to pile up high to get Mouse's airplane. The squirrel lifted Mouse up to reach the plane and then all of the animals fell. And Mouse got stuck with his airplane. The animals were mad at Rabbit. But Mouse is still Rabbit's friend because Rabbit tried to help Mouse get his airplane. I would like other people to get this book because this is a nice book and funny book.
  
  
• The Importance of Friendship
  By A1NTLTNC2AT2AY on 2008-04-08
  I have just finished studying Modern Fantasy picture books in a Children's Literature class at Louisiana State University. One of the books our professor had us look at was "My Friend Rabbit," by Eric Rohmann. After reading the book, I purchased it for my 5-year-old cousin. I did this because it is a great book to use when teaching young children about sharing and the importance of friendship. Mouse's loyalty to his friend Rabbit is certainly something all of us, young and old, should aspire to emulate. I would use this book in a pre-school or kindergarten classroom. I would not use it after grade 2. I think by that time, children would be bored by it. They would lose interest in it's vivid illustrations and colorful characters, which are things that younger children are attracted to. It is a great book for a read-aloud, because it's illustrations are so interesting. I gave this book a 5-star rating because I truly believe it is one of the best picture books on the market.
  
  

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