Module 3: My Friend Rabbit

Another Caldecott medal winner that I read for Module 3 was My Friend Rabbit, written and illustrated by Eric Rohmann.  I loved the bright colors and bold lines of Rohmann's illustrations and how the pictures tell more of the story than the words - I definitely understand why this book was awarded the Caldecott medal.

Image credit: http://us.macmillan.com/myfriendrabbit/EricRohmann

My Friend Rabbit is a beautiful picture book depicting the story of a mouse and a rabbit.  Narrated by the mouse, most of the story is told in pictures, rather than text.  Rabbit is a master of ingenuity when it comes to solving problems, such as Mouse's plane being stuck in a tree, but his unorthodox methods leave Mouse trembling!  In the end, the plane is freed, but Rabbit's antics continue to make Mouse a little jittery.

This another great example of a Caldecott medal winner.  You can tell at a glance that this is a more recent addition to that award list, especially when compared to the previous post's Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.  The two books have similar bold lines, but the style of drawing is very different, and Rohmann's illustrations have a much more modern feel to them.  The plot of this book is humorous and light-hearted and can be easily enjoyed by young children and their parents.  In a Booklist review, Connie Fletcher describes the story as "a gentle lesson about accepting friends as they are" and captures the spirit of the book with the apt description of "tremendous physical humor" - something that is harder to come by in illustrations than in film!

I think it could be fun to use this book as a jumping-off point for learning about building and flying model airplanes - perhaps the library could sponsor a family fun day beginning with story time, continuing with building model airplanes or folding paper airplanes, and concluding with a demonstration from local model airplane enthusiasts.

References:

Fletcher, C.  (2002).  My Friend Rabbit.  (Book).  In Booklist, 98(18).

Rohmann, E.  (2002).  My Friend Rabbit.  Brookfield, CT: Roaring Brook Press.