scrounge: /skrounj/ informal verb: to actively seek [books] from any available source
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane was a very sad but touching story -- simply told, and an easy read, but with clearly drawn characters and a theme that reappears in many ways. For those of us who remember The Velveteen Rabbit, it's not the first time a story about a toy rabbit has tugged at our heartstrings.
Edward Tulane is a proud rabbit who doesn't love anyone, not even his owner who takes good care of him. Over the course of the story, he is taught difficult lessons as he is lost, thrown out, and abandoned to other owners -- many people love him, though some characters do not. He learns how much love can hurt, but also how necessary it is. Can he open his heart one last time? While the ending is satisfying, the story includes enough sadness that it doesn't feel schmaltzy.
Scrounged From: PaperbackSwap.com
Format: Paperback
Author: Kate DiCamillo
Pages: 200
Content Advisory: A child dies of illness, and there are other sad abandonments throughout the story.
I had almost forgotten about Benjamin Bunny, Beatrix Potter's sequel to Peter Rabbit, but various images are coming back to me from childhood readings.
It could just as easily have been titled "Peter Rabbit II: Return to Mr. McGregor's Garden," because that is exactly what takes place. Benjamin in joyful naivete and optimism, and Peter in wide-eyed reticence marked with occasional evidence of rabbit PTSD. Peter's fear of a repeat of his previous "adventure" is obvious to the adult reader, but may go over the heads of children (it did for me).
They have a close but boring encounter with a cat, but all end up okay since Benjamin's father, as the book states, "had no opinion whatever of cats," and manages to save the rabbit boys by channeling General Woundwort from Watership Down.
As a child I remember being terribly disappointed when Beatrix Potter says that she can't draw us a picture of Peter and Benjamin hiding under the basket because it was too dark under there. For me it became a matter of great curiosity every time this was read, trying to picture exactly how things must have looked under that dark basket.
In addition to this little adventure, the story also introduces children to many words likely not found in children's books today, such as "gig" (nothing to do with a band), "muffetees," "tam-o-shanter," "cuffed," etc.
Peter's mother makes another appreance in this story -- we are told at the end that she forgave him when he returned from a second brush with death, because she was so glad he had found his clothes. I'm telling you -- it's all about the clothes with these century-old British bunnies.
Scrounged From: Our local flea market
Format: Paperback
Author/Illustrator: Beatrix Potter
Pages: 62
Content Advisory: Peril, and also, the bunnies get hit with a switch by Benjamin's father at the end.
I've grown up with Peter Rabbit, and for a book published more than a century ago, it has held up pretty well, though you'd be hard pressed to find a modern children's story that makes use of quite so many semicolons (if any).
Still, I much prefer the original, with Beatrix Potter's artwork, to any version that attempts to "update" or condense the story in various ways (such as replacing terms like "implored" and "fortnight.") Potter's little hand-drawn characters portray so much warmth, but also the gravity of being proper British rodents -- such as when Peter escapes from almost certain death and his mother's first reaction is to wonder what he did with his clothes. It's all about social survival with these bunnies. In fact, Peter's mother is clearly cut from the same cloth as Mrs. Tabitha Twitchet.
Although it may be too wordy yet for children in the "board book stage," this is still a classic cautionary story of danger and survival that all children should encounter at some point.
Scrounged From: Our local flea market
Format: Paperback
Author/Illustrator: Beatrix Potter
Pages: 62
Content Advisory: Mainly just peril. We learn early on that Peter's father ended up in a pie.
From Beatrix Potter to Redwall, Wind in the Willows and Jill Barklem's Brambly Hedge, among others, the British appear to be the most accomplished experts on writing fictional accounts of rodents.
Watership Down is in that category, but at 400+ pages, it's not something most children are likely to pick up. It's the story of a journey, and of survival, with plenty of heart and endearing characters.
The story follows an intrepid band of rabbits who leave their home after Fiver, an eccentric (but accurate) rabbit foretells disaster to their current warren. On the way, they encounter many obstacles and set-backs, but finally arrive at Watership Down, which they decide to make their new home. Once there, however, they realize they won't last long as a colony without females, and thus begins a new phase of adventure as they decide they must find a way to infiltrate the other warren in the area -- the one that is run under the iron paw of the ruthless General Woundwort.
While the rabbits in this story are anthropomorphized to a point, as in they do speak to each other, Richard Adams did not simply stick human personalities onto rabbits. I get the impression that he has spent an awful lot of time observing and pondering these creatures, and so the characters he created are relatable and yet feel more rabbity than human. He gives them their own folk heroes and folk tales, and you have to wonder whether rabbits really are like this if you could just speak their language.
Scrounged From: PaperbackSwap.com
Format: Paperback
Author: Richard Adams
Pages: 476
Content Advisory: Lots of peril, and several scenes of fighting and other violence, including some descriptions of injury and death.
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