Remarkable rabbits & a giveaway

by | posted in: Bert Kitchen, Meredith Hooper, Polar regions, Stephanie Blake | 66

Picture Book Month‘s theme of the day today is Rabbits and I couldn’t have two more different books to share with you.

Do your kids ever go through phases of saying “rude” words? I think most parents will have experienced their darling little children delighting in transgressing by exclaiming words they know to be “naughty”. My otherwise angelic children certainly love the thrill that comes from saying such powerful words as “bum”, “fart” and (most outrageously of all) “winkie”.

Poo Bum by Stephanie Blake, hot off the press only yesterday, captures this experience perfectly. A young rabbit appears to be able to say nothing other than “Poo Bum”, whatever his family ask him. Time to get up? Poo Bum. Lunch time? Poo Bum. Bath time? Poo Bum. You know how this goes.

With a Belloc-esque turn in the middle of the book (we all know naughty children will end up being eaten, if not by a lion, then by some other predator at some point), it is actually the the young bunny who has the last laugh. Children love books which reflect and validate their experience of the world and this one is sure to make them giggle (but it definitely won’t clean up their language).

The illustrations in Poo Bum are very simple, but brilliant and bold. The use of strong, saturated colour pairs perfectly with the slightly ballsy text. The cartoony characters have a naivety about them which young children will recognise as something from their own world, just like the story.

Given the theme today for Picture Book Month, the rabbity-ness of the book got me thinking. Animals in picture books have always been used as a proxy for exploring human emotions and experience and had Poo Bum had been drawn with people rather than animals, I doubt it would have been as funny and clever as it turns out to be with rabbits.

Toilet humour in children’s books isn’t for everyone, but this is a wickedly funny book which captures a parent/child experience in all its absurdity. Not one I feel I could read out in class, but I know my kids can’t get enough of me reading it at home.

Tom Crean’s Rabbit: A True Story from Scott’s Last Voyage written by Meredith Hooper and illustrated by Bert Kitchen is an equally remarkable book, but an entire universe away from Poo Bum.

Tom Crean’s Rabbit presents a small vignette from Captain Scott’s last journey to Antarctica, in 1910. On board was sailor Tom Crean who had brought with him a rabbit. As Crean looks for a cosy nook on board the Terra Nova for his rabbit to snuggle down in, we are shown around this amazing ship. We are given glimpses of life on board as the crew ready the ship for a Christmas celebration, which is made even more special by the birth of 17 bunnies on Christmas Day itself.

Based on diary entries written by the crew of the Terra Nova, this book is part non-fiction, part picture book. The story such as it is, is quite slight, but it does allow for an interesting introduction to life on board a ship exploring one of the most remote and dangerous parts of the world over 100 years ago.

It’s fascinating to see just how much animal life there was on board the ship (in addition to rabbits, there’s a cat, a parrot, a team of dogs and a stable full of ponies!) and Kitchen’s illustrations capture the awe inspiring vistas with ice floes, whales and cold, cold air. The final pages of the book include brief author’s notes on the facts behind the story, but I feel the book would have been enriched by a little more commentary on the story and images, not least, why was there are rabbit on board at all? Was it simply a flight of fancy by Crean? Was the rabbit destined for the pot?

Tom Crean’s Rabbit is a Christmas story with a difference, obviously useful if your kids are interested in exploration but also good for reading and remembering those who are far from home at Christmas time.

************

My kids would love to have some rabbits as pets, but they couldn’t persuade me to get a real life bunny. Instead I showed them how to make their own bunny families, using beads, felt and a glue gun. With beads of three different sizes, and small pieces of felt cut out in the shape of ears and feet, M learned to carefully squeeze a little bit of glue onto the beads to stick them and the felt together, making sure the “head” bead was positioned so that the threading holes acted as eyes.

We got the idea for this activity here. The use of the glue gun and fairly precise nature of the gluing meant that this was an activity my eldest could do under supervision, but it wasn’t something my 4 year old could do. Despite it not be so young-child-friendly the glue gun was great to use as the beads stuck firmly very quickly (which wouldn’t have happened with PVA).

Once our colony of rabbits were ready they needed some downs to play in so we plundered moss growing on the pavement outside our street and created little landscapes in some gardening trays.

Rabbit music we love includes:

  • John the Rabbit sung by Elizabeth Mitchell
  • Mister Rabbit sung by Caspar Babypants
  • Rabbit Run by Steve Weeks (some lovely banjo music on this track, even if it’s not actually about a rabbit…)



    • Activities to go with these books include:

  • Recycling some plastic bags to make a bunny, using this tutorial on Free Kids Crafts.
  • Making this rather fun rabbit headband from Fun Family Crafts.
  • Cuddling a soft toy bunny you and the kids have made yourself – TipNut has a round up of patterns and tutorials, my favourite one being this one.



    • I’m delighted to say you could win either of these books. All you need to do is leave me a comment on this post.

    **The giveaway is now closed. It was won by Comment 43: Mary Preston**


    Disclosure: I received a free copies of the books I’ve reviewed today from their publishers. I was under no obligation to review the books and I received no money for this post.

    66 Responses

    2. Carmen Haselup
      | Reply

      I love the little rabbits! I am going to try a glue-gun-free variation with my daughter, maybe threading the beads together and using sticky pads to connect the felt. Thanks for the wonderful idea.

    7. Annabel deuchar
      | Reply

      As always, some fab books and brilliant craft ideas. I love your bead bunnies! As for poo bum, I always feel so conflicted about books that encourage ‘naughty’ words. They totally appeal to my sense of humour, and I know they will to my kids, especially if I can’t help tittering. But then I’m left with kids who will be shouting poo bum all the time, and given the lungs on my son and how readily he likes to exercise them, I don’t think I can inflict that on our neighbours or indeed whole local community!!
      Annabel deuchar recently posted..Botox Babes – would you go plastic?

    10. Gary Masskin
      | Reply

      These look great. Poo Bum really caught my attention. I’m enjoying Picture Book Month. Tonight’s books included “Hurry Up, Birthday!”, “Hop, Little Hare!” and “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”. I know that hare’s are technically different to rabbits but it was useful to discuss the differences with my daughter. And looking at the year that Peter Rabbit was first published came as a bit of a shock.

    13. Parita
      | Reply

      I just know that the words Poo Bum are going to be echoing in my mind all day after reading this!

    19. Rebecca Miller
      | Reply

      My girls are at a stage were everything is about toilet humour,so i know they would love Poo bum:)

    20. rhythm
      | Reply

      I am excited to see this book about the rabbit travelling with Mr Scott to Antarctica! I love stories about animals going on fantastic adventures, and the Mom Person is obsessive over anything to do with Antarctic exploration. So this one will be going on our book list. Thanks!

    23. Kellie Faggle McIntyre
      | Reply

      My son LOVES rabbits! He has one he carries continually and even takes to bed. I have to wash him when Samuel is asleep!

    24. Rachel
      | Reply

      Poo Bum! What a laugh. My nearly 3 year old daughter is obsessed with the word ‘poo’ at the moment. It wouldn’t take long for her to read the story by herself!! 🙂

    25. Catherine
      | Reply

      I am very interested in the Meredith Hooper book. We have read some great picture books about Antarctica while doing a unit on it, and this one looks great too.

    29. Lauren
      | Reply

      Love the concept of the Poo Bum book….intrigued to read it myself, never mind to children!

    43. Mary Preston
      | Reply

      There really are some amazing picture books around. The colony of bunnies is very cute & clever.

    44. Rebecca
      | Reply

      The books look great but really love the crafts and music that go with them

    50. Catherine
      | Reply

      We would love to read Tom Crean’s rabbit – Christmas Day bunnies sounds like a great Christmas present :o) Thanks for this amazing giveaway.

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