I picked up Charlotte Zolotow’s 1962 picture book Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present for one reason: Maurice Sendak illustrated it.
I’m glad I did–it is a pleasant little book, and was a Caldecott Honor winner in 1963–but I wanted to be upfront about this.
There is a nice tension in this book between the core situation, which is common and realistic, and the action, which is uncommon and fantastic.
The situation: a mother is having a birthday, and a loving daughter wants to give her a present. She’s not quite sure what to give her mom, though, and so asks for help.
The action: starting with the first line of the book, the girl asks “Mr. Rabbit” for help with her situation. Sendak’s illustration suggest Alice in Wonderland, as well as his own Where the Wild Things Are: oversized, non-human creatures interact with kids and are taken for granted.
Mr. Rabbit agrees to help, and does so by asking useful prompting questions to help the girl realize what she might give her mother. There’s a nice structure of repetition and progression, as the girl reports that her mother likes specific colors– “She likes red” and Mr. Rabbit pointing out that you can’t give a color, and then helping the girl identify something red, yellow, green, and blue she might give. Suggestions are made that are too big–the sun, for yellow–and too basic, like butter, until in each case, the pair settle on and gather fruit.
They ultimately arrange the fruit in a nice basket. The problem’s solved, and Mr. Rabbit leaves. And the little girl has a present that seems basic (a fruit basket) but which took immense effort to create and symbolizes a child’s love.
Small. Nice. Occasionally surreal. Suggested.
