about the book
One beautiful sunny morning a long-eared, itty-bitty Rabbit pops out of his burrow. But, he quickly realizes, there is a huge scary black rabbit looming right behind him!
Little Rabbit screams, ”Go away,” but the scary rabbit stands, silent and unmoving. Panicking, Little Rabbit flees, but every step he takes, the black rabbit sticks right behind him!
Little Rabbit tries all sorts of tricks to shake the pursuit, hiding behind a tree and splashing across a river. But when he puts a paw back into the sunshine, the big black rabbit is right behind!
Finally, in desperation, Little Rabbit sprints into the deep dark woods, a dangerous place avoided by rabbits. The black rabbit doesn’t follow.
Happily, Little Rabbit sinks down at a base of a tree to catch his breath. But he is still not alone!
From the shadows, two bright eyes gleam. It is a shaggy snaggly-toothed wolf! Little Rabbit scrambles off again, this time with the nasty wolf hot on his heels. But once Little Rabbit leaves the dark forest and sprints across the sunny meadow, the wolf abandons his chase. Now what scared the ugly wolf off?
Is he afraid of big black rabbits, too?
about the author
While taking a course in animation in college, Philippa Leathers came up with this funny little character, a tiny long-eared white bunny that appeared for just a short bit in the background of one of her assignments. It’s short stubby legs caused him to wiggle comically side-to-side when he hopped. She loved the little white rabbit so much she secretly dreamed of creating a book around him.
Though she dreamed of writing a children’s book, her career as freelance animator and illustrator kept her too busy, especially while working on two animated television series. Then her life became even more hectic. She had two daughters, one right after the other!
With her girls just two years and three months old, the only time she found to write or illustrate was during naptime. Coming up with a story for her white rabbit took quite a while. One day she was watching the family’s two pet bunnies, Benji and Kiki. The funny bunnies were mimicking each other’s movements and freaking at every little noise. An idea popped into Philippa’s head. What if her tiny white bunny was afraid of its own shadow and was actually in danger!
It took Philippa two years to write and illustrate The Black Rabbit. She drew the illustrations in pencil and colored them with watercolors. She did the final tweaking digitally.
Philippa lives in Ightham, England, with her family, the two bunnies, and a kitty named Emmi.
Sources:
Author biography: Goodreads
Author interview: Picture Book Party
read more!
Black Dog by Levi Pinfold
When the Hope family awakens one morning, they find a big Black Dog outside their home. As they watch, the dog grows bigger and bigger—from the size of a tiger to the size of Mount Rushmore! The family is terrified, but the youngest and tiniest member of the Hope family bravely goes outside. Taunting the huge dog, she leads him on a merry chase and finally brings him down to size.
Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds
Jasper Rabbit loves carrots, and the fattest, crispiest ones can be found in Crackenhopper’s Field. Several times a day, Jasper yanks the tender carrots out of the ground and gorges on the yummy veggies. Then one day he gets the eerie feeling he is being watched—and begins to see creepy carrots everywhere!
The Dark by Lemony Snicket
When Laszlo is plunged into darkness after his nightlight goes out, he must face his fear of the dark. He wanders into the basement, where the dark lives. Maybe the dark is not so scary after all.