Tiny Rabbit's Big Wish: An Easter And Springtime Book For Kids - Hardcover

Engle, Margarita

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 054785286X ISBN 13: 9780547852867

Publisher: Clarion Books, 2014

Synopsis

Tiny rabbit dreams of growing as big as the forest and as tall as the trees, yet no matter how hard he wishes, he stays the same small size. But in a jungle filled with beasts both big and small, perhaps being tiny is just right! Inspired by the rhythms and humor of Afro-Cuban folktales, award-winning author Margarita Engle wrote this charming picture book in honor of every child's favorite springtime animal.

 

About this title

About the Authors

Margarita Engle is a Cuban American poet and novelist whose work has been published in many countries. Her many acclaimed books include Silver People, The Lightning Dreamer, The Wild Book, and The Surrender Tree, a Newbery Honor Book. She is a several-time winner of the Pura Belpré and Américas Awards as well as other prestigious honors. She lives with her husband in Northern California. For more information, visit margaritaengle.com.

David Walker has illustrated a number of books for young readers including Peep and Ducky; No More, Por Favor; Before You Were Mine; and Flip, Flap, Fly. A former art director for Hallmark, David now lives with his family in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Reviews

PreS-Gr 1—Tiny rabbit is not happy about his size. In his dreams, he envisions having "legs as tall as trees and eyes the size of moons." He longs for a nose like an elephant and a tail that resembles a snowy mountain. As time passes, his body doesn't grow much, but his ears do. When he realizes what his long ears allow him to hear, Rabbit begins to appreciate his body and his mind. Engle's rich adjectives and repetition make this an enjoyable read aloud. Walker's summer scenes, rendered in acrylic, show Rabbit interacting with a variety of differently sized animals. This book could easily be turned into a fun flannel board adaptation.—Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada

In this adaptation of an Afro-Cuban folktale, a tiny rabbit in the jungle doesn’t like being tiny. He wants to be as tall as a giraffe, with a nose as long as an elephant’s and a tail as enormous as a snow-capped mountain. But he remains tiny. Rabbit does grow, however, albeit just a little, and his long ears give him something even better than height. Now he has the ability to enjoy all the sounds of the jungle and to heed the sound of a lion approaching, and his small size enables him to pop into the safety of a rabbit hole. Walker’s acrylics convey the light and shade of the jungle with some nice comic touches, such as the woodpecker who taps out a growth chart for the rabbit on a tree. Walker takes care to make the rabbit look very much like a toddler, while the typeface makes words like tall and tiny just that—tall, tiny, and so forth. Engle delivers here a nifty life lesson in valuing what you have. Preschool-Grade 2. --Connie Fletcher

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 054785286X
• ISBN 13: 9780547852867
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Walker David
• Number of pages: 32