My Friend Rabbit

My Friend Rabbit

by Eric Rohmann
Illustration by Eric Rohmann

When Mouse lets his best friend, Rabbit, play with his brand-new airplane, trouble isn't far behind. From Caldecott Honor award winner Eric Rohmann comes a brand-new picture book about friends and toys and trouble, illustrated in robust, expressive prints.

The opening lines, "My friend Rabbit means well. But whatever he does, wherever he goes, trouble follows," perfectly sets the tone for this tale of unconditional friendship between a mouse and his bunny best friend.  While the story is light-on-words, including several completely wordless pages, the bold-outlined illustrations more than compensate and seamlessly flow into the next page.  Preschool-age kids will giggle at Rabbit's silly solution to retrieving mouse's airplane, which he accidently threw into a tree.  From the first glance of Rabbit tugging on the tail of a giant elephant to a haphazardly stacked pile of various zoo and farm animals, kids will watch in amazement as Rabbit tries to get the airplane out of the tree.  The illustrations of classic zoo animals, complete with shocked, confused and comical expressions, enhance the silliness of the story. 

As an example of the power of friendship, this story does a wonderful job of showing kids that it's the good intentions that count and not necessarily the outcomes.  It also demonstrates that no matter what happens, you can count on your friends to help you out.  This is a great book to read to kids in preschool who are learning the valuable lessons of friendship.

Emily, the little girl I babysit, loved seeing the various zoo animals that Rabbit piled up in an effort to reach the airplane.  She thought it was silly to see the hippo on top of the bear on top of the deer on top of the rhino on top of the elephant.  Since there are so many wordless pages in this book, she was also able to read the story to herself and practice her storytelling skills.

--Abby