Brother Rabbit: A Cambodian Tale

A crocodile, two elephants, and an old woman are no match for a mischievous rabbit

Kindergarten-Grade 3. Trickery reigns supreme as clever Brother Rabbit gets the best of everyone. His main opponent is a crocodile, whom he convinces to ferry him across the river in exchange for a cure for his scaly skin. From that point on, the two constantly spar for the upper hand. In the end, Rabbit extricates himself from the crocodile's belly by pretending to be thrilled at the prospect of eating crocodile guts. The story is well told, with just enough detail to capture all the outrageous activity in Rabbit's day, and children will take delight in his exuberant mischief. A lengthy note places Brother Rabbit in a cultural context but the book includes no source note. Hewitson uses watercolor and paint in a highly accomplished manner that mimics complex, heavily patterned scratchboard illustrations. Each single- or double-page spread features a different border that barely contains the rabbit's foolish actions. Even though the pictures include a host of details depicting Cambodian village life, the illustrations look great at a distance, making this eminently suitable for group sharing.?Ellen Fader, Multnomah County Library, Portland,
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 1^-4. When a river separates a hungry rabbit from food, the resourceful creature tricks an enormous crocodile into ferrying him across the swiftly-moving water to his feast. Soon after, Brother Rabbit outsmarts a market woman and an elephant mother and her child. But greater trouble awaits in the form of the angry, revenge-seeking crocodile. Hewitson's bright watercolor-and-ink illustrations cleverly enhance this Cambodian folktale's sense of place and lend suspense and drama to the rabbit's misadventures. A distinctive border frames each page, and Hewitson imbues each illustration with an exceptional sense of texture and movement that pairs with the text to race the story along. Older students may find this a good choice for storytelling or for comparing with other trickster tales or Brother Rabbit stories. No notes are provided, but the authors discuss the place of folklore in Cambodia and relate the story's theme to Cambodian history. Karen Morgan