Bunnies and Books

I have a guest room inundated with rabbits!  This is a pajama bag....see all the bunnies in Mother Rabbit's apron?

And the bunnies climbing over the dish?

Here they're hanging onto the dollhouse and lampshade.

Then there's my collection of bunny rabbits and children's books about rabbits that I keep on top of the curio cabinet in this room.  




 This is the book that got me started collecting books about rabbits:

The flyleaf says, "Children will delight in the antics of these riotously funny rabbits as they join in the mad search for baby."  My youngest son did, indeed, love it. 

Among the other books I have are books from the Bunnykins series:

This classic book from 1922 was given to me by a friend when I was in my 30's:

HERE is a cute animated version of the very popular book "Guess How Much I Love You".

I love Patience Brewster's illustrations:

And the most famous rabbit of all, of course:

Childhood should be a time of play and imagination.  I loved playing house with my dolls, collecting charms from the penny gumball machine and trading them with my girlfriends, riding my bike, and playing at the big ditch in the huge pipe where tadpoles lived.  There were a few TV shows I liked to watch, like Father Knows Best and the Mickey Mouse Club, but if I could be outside or at a friend's house, that's where you'd find me.  I didn't read except for what was required at school, although I did like to look through my "How and Why" books before going to sleep each night.  

I think that's why I love children's books now and have written a few of my own stories for children (I have posted some HERE).  Somehow I missed out on all these great books for children during my growing up years.  I didn't know about Beatrix Potter or Tasha Tudor or any of the other great picture book artists.  And I never read Little Women or Nancy Drew either.  

I read to my boys at naps and bedtime everyday and discovered books like "Little Bear", the Dr. Seuss books, "Curious George", "Clifford the Big Red Dog", "Where the Wild Things Are", and the Berenstain Bear books...the list is endless.  Because I had all boys I did not discover all the wonderful girl picture books with matching dolls, such as Madeline and Angelina Ballerina, until I was grown and saw them at yard sales.  

I've been collecting all the children's books I love under the pretense they're for my future grandchildren, but in truth they're there on my shelf to transport me back to a time where play and imagination were OK things to spend time doing.  Where, as long as your homework was done, you were allowed to run outside and be yourself.  

Childhood....that's what it is....a time to be yourself....and books are a way to help you discover who that is by exposing you to all sorts of places and people and imaginings that you'd never find in your own neighborhood.

HERE is the end scene from the Peter Rabbit video to get your imagination stirred up....