The Gingerbread Rabbit

One morning a mother mixes up some dough and cuts out a gingerbread rabbit to surprise her little daughter. But when the mother puts him in to bake, she gets the surprise of her life. The rabbit jumps to the floor, runs to the door, and disappears into the forest!

Fleeing through the forest with the mother close behind, the innocent rabbit gets some surprises of his own. The worst surprise is a "friendly" red animal who says he's a rabbit, too, though he looks just like a fox. The best surprise is a big brown rabbit and a silvery gray one, who live in a cozy cave full of carrots and lettuce -- where they happen to have an extra little bed.

Yes, all's well that ends well. The gingerbread rabbit finds himself a happy home, and the mother finds an even better way to surprise her daughter.

Randall Jarrell (1914–65) received the National Book Award for his book of poems The Woman at the Washington Zoo. His children's book The Animal Family was named a Newbery Honor Book, and his translation of The Three Sisters was produced by the Actors Studio Theatre.

Garth Williams is the renowned illustrator of almost one hundred books for children, including the beloved Stuart Little by E. B. White, Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban, and the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

He was born in 1912 in New York City but raised in England. He founded an art school near London and served with the British Red Cross Civilian Defense during World War II. Williams worked as a portrait sculptor, art director, and magazine artist before doing his first book Stuart Little, thus beginning a long and lustrous career illustrating some of the best known children's books.

In addition to illustrating works by White and Wilder, he also illustrated George Selden’s The Cricket in Times Square and its sequels (Farrar Straus Giroux). He created the character and pictures for the first book in the Frances series by Russell Hoban (HarperCollins) and the first books in the Miss Bianca series by Margery Sharp (Little, Brown). He collaborated with Margaret Wise Brown on her Little Golden Books titles Home for a Bunny and Little Fur Family, among others, and with Jack Prelutsky on two poetry collections published by Greenwillow: Ride a Purple Pelican and Beneath a Blue Umbrella. He also wrote and illustrated seven books on his own, including Baby Farm Animals (Little Golden Books) and The Rabbits’ Wedding (HarperCollins).