So begins the Golden Easter classic about a bunny—and a little duck that is about to hatch!
Margaret Wise Brown's enchanting story of a lonely little rabbit who "hatches" a friend comes charmingly to life, enhanced throughout by Weisgard's softly-colored illustrations.
After graduating college in 1932, Brown's first ambition was to write literature for adults; but when she entered a program for student teachers in New York, she was thrilled by the experience of working with young children, and inspired by the program's progressive leader, the education reformer Lucy Sprague Mitchell. Mitchell held that stories for very young children should be grounded in "the here and now" rather than nonsense or fantasy. For children aged two to five, she thought, real experience was magical enough without embellishments.
Few children's authors had attempted to write specifically for so young an audience, but Brown quickly proved herself gifted at the task. She was appointed editor of a new publishing firm devoted to children's books, where she cultivated promising new writers and illustrators, helped develop innovations like the board book, and became, as her biographer Leonard S. Marcus notes, "one of the central figures of a period now considered the golden age of the American picture book."
Though Brown was intensely interested in modernist writers like Gertrude Stein (whom she persuaded to write a children's book, The World Is Round), it was a medieval ballad that provided the inspiration for The Runaway Bunny (1942), illustrated by Clement Hurd. The Runaway Bunny was Brown's first departure from the here-and-now style of writing, and became one of her most popular books.
Goodnight Moon, another collaboration with Hurd, appeared in 1947. The story of a little rabbit's bedtime ritual, its rhythmic litany of familiar objects placed it somewhere between the nursery rhyme and the here-and-now story. At first it was only moderately successful, but its popularity gradually climbed, and by 2000, it was among the top 40 best-selling children's books of all time.
The postwar baby boom helped propel sales of Brown's many picture books, including Two Little Trains (1949) and The Important Book (1949). After the author died in 1952, at the age of 42, many of her unpublished manuscripts were illustrated and made into books, but Brown remains best known for Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny.
More people recognize those titles than recognize the name of their author, but Margaret Wise Brown wouldn't have minded. "It didn't seem important that anyone wrote them," she once said of the books she read as a child. "And it still doesn't seem important. I wish I didn't have ever to sign my long name on the cover of a book and I wish I could write a story that would seem absolutely true to the child who hears it and to myself." For millions of children who have settled down to hear her stories, she did just that.
If you look closely at the bookshelves illustrated in Goodnight Moon, you'll see that one of the little rabbit's books is The Runaway Bunny. One of three framed pictures on the walls shows a scene from the same book.
Brown's death was a stunning and sad surprise. The author had had an emergency appendectomy in France while on a book tour, which was successful; but when she did a can-can kick days later to demonstrate her good health to her doctor, it caused a fatal embolism.
New-Mexico-hound
Posted February 2, 2009
This was my favorite book as a child. I loved the illustrations and the story. I passed it along to my son and am now passing along to my grandson.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 19, 2001
This was my daughters favorite bedtime book when she was just about 3. She had us read it nightly until we wore the cover off! It contains a valuable lesson in friendship and acceptance.Today I am purchasing it for a gift to her for her baby shower. At age 26 she can still tell me the story work for word! I can't wait for her to share it with our first grandchild.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 7, 2000
I too loved this book as a child and it is one of the few I kept tucked away for keeps. I thought it was long out of print, so was astounded to find a single copy of it in a bargain bin one day -- I bought it immediately for my daughter. She adores it and I never tire of reading it. The story is simple, funny, poignant -- and just the right length to read to a young child before bed. The illustrations are gorgeous, rich and colourful. A real treasure.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 2, 2010
I purchased this book as one of my daughter's Easter gifts based largely on the fact that Margaret Wise Brown (Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny) was the author. I was not disappointed. The story is quite cute and the illustrations are wonderful. My daughter has enjoyed reading it over and over again since Easter. I would highly recommend this book for parents with toddlers.
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Posted April 24, 2010
You just can't go wrong with a Golden Book classic. I bought this for my grandsons and they love it, and have to share it with their mother, who also loves it!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 24, 2010
Loved this book when I was young, Read it to my children and now bought this book for my grandchild.It is a classic.
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Posted April 19, 2010
As a child in the early to mid 50's, I loved this book - but it then disappeared when my children were born. I kept my old copy, thank goodness - and now it is available again for the grandchildren.. The message is sweet but not cloying and the illustrations are so lovely. My original copy was largeer in size (this one is about 11x14 or so ) but still large enough to enjoy the delicate pictures and expressions of the characters. What a great find - I bought enough copies to give one to each of my 4 children and one step daughter, to have to read to their children. But the real pleasure will be reading the story again and again, with the proper verbal tones and expressions ,to the little ones, which hopefully will stay in their memory the way my Mom's did for me.
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Posted March 23, 2010
I Also Recommend:
My children (now 19 & 23) loved this book, even when they were much older than preschool age. It's a wonderful story to read aloud. I love the illustrations.
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Posted October 11, 2009
The story is the same and oh so wonderful for children, but I miss the original illustrations. The new illustrations are not as warm and friendly to me. I would love to see the original republished.
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Posted May 24, 2009
this book was a favorite of my children and now my grandchild could enjoy it. Nicely illustrated.The story entices you to each next page. Age for 2 to 3 year old although it stayed a favorite of ours to preschool.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Margaret Wise Brown was a master of children's book writing. Her sense of rhythm was superlative, especially. Her stories are not condescending, didactic or dully repetitive; they are written with the hint of a child's sense of mischief and with an understanding of children's perceived powerlessness. Unlike so many other children's book, they are a delight for an adult to read to a child because the words trip off the tongue easily, without any forced, off-key rhyming. So many children's books are frankly irritating in their condescension; hers are not whatsoever so. Her stories are whimsical and compelling.
This one, The Golden Egg Book, is about a bunny who finds an egg and wonders what's inside it. The bunny tries hard to find out what's in there (throws tiny rocks at it, rolls it down a hill, etc.) until the bunny gets tired out and has to take a nap. While the bunny is napping, a duckling emerges from the egg--who then tries to wake the bunny up any way it can, throwing tiny rocks at it, rolling it down a hill, etc.
Lushly and colorfully illustrated by Leonard Weisgard.
Anonymous
Posted April 2, 2009
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Anonymous
Posted March 24, 2010
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Overview
So begins the Golden Easter classic about a bunny—and a little duck that is about to hatch!
Margaret Wise Brown's enchanting story of a lonely little rabbit who "hatches" a friend comes charmingly to life, enhanced throughout by Weisgard's softly-colored ...