Two White Rabbits

by Jairo Buitrago, Rafael Yockteng (Illustrator), Elisa Amado (Translator)

Overview

In this moving and timely story, a young child describes what it is like to be a migrant as she and her father travel north toward the US border.

They travel mostly on the roof of a train known as The Beast, but the little girl doesn’t know where they are going. She counts the animals by the road, the clouds in the sky, the stars. Sometimes she sees soldiers. She sleeps, dreaming that she is always on the move, although sometimes they are forced to stop and her father has to earn more money before they can continue their journey.

As many thousands of people, especially children, in Mexico and Central America continue to make the arduous journey to the US border in search of a better life, this is an important book that shows a young migrant’s perspective.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554987412
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	10/01/2015
Pages:	56
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD490L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Author JAIRO BUITRAGO has collaborated with Rafael Yockteng on several picture books, including Jimmy the Greatest! (six starred reviews), Two White Rabbits (three starred reviews), Walk with Me (three starred reviews), Lion and Mouse (two starred reviews) and Wounded Falcons (two starred reviews and named a USBBY Outstanding International Book). Jairo has also won the Hispanoamericano Castillo prize for children's literature and the Antonio García Cubas Award. He lives in Mexico City, Mexico.

RAFAEL YOCKTENG has illustrated many highly acclaimed children’s books, including Afterward, Everything was Different: A Tale From the Pleistocene; Wounded Falcons (two starred reviews and named a USBBY Outstanding International Book); Jimmy the Greatest! (six starred reviews); Two White Rabbits (three starred reviews); and Walk with Me (three starred reviews) by Jairo Buitrago. Rafael’s books have been included on IBBY’s Honor List, the Horn Book Fanfare and in the White Ravens Catalogue. He lives in Bogotá, Colombia.

ELISA AMADO is a Guatemalan-born author and translator. She has written My Friend (Mi amiga), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano; Un Barrilete para el Día de los Muertos / Barrilete: A Kite for the Day of the Dead; Cousins (Primas), illustrated by Luis Garay; and Tricycle (El triciclo), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano, which is on the Américas Award Commended List and is a USBBY Outstanding International Book. She lives in Toronto.

Read an Excerpt

“Where are we going?” I ask sometimes, but no one answers.
We wait by the side of the highway. We aren’t traveling right now.
There is a boy. I count — one — there isn’t any other.
Papá works while we wait like we do almost every day.
The boy stays with me. We count the cars that are going by, the dogs that are going by, but I don’t think the boy knows how to count very well.
I show him my clouds. The ones that have shapes.
And he shows me his box. There are two white rabbits in it.

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/31/2015
Hope and hardship coexist in this haunting look at refugees fleeing home in hopes of a safer, more secure life. While strongly suggestive of Mexico, the setting is never mentioned explicitly, nor are the reasons why the young narrator and her father are traveling. For the girl, counting—chickens on the side of the road, people encamped by train tracks—offers a stability that her day-to-day life cannot; numbers are constant, even when you’re always on the move. On every step of their journey, which includes fording a muddy river on rafts built on rubber tires and riding atop a rusted-out train, they are joined by a narrow-eyed coyote, a visual metaphor for those who smuggle migrants and refugees across borders, not always with good intentions. Colored in drab browns and blues, Yockteng’s illustrations emphasize the closeness between father and daughter without downplaying the dangers they face. Buitrago and Yockteng (who previously collaborated on Jimmy the Greatest!) leave the family’s story open-ended, powerfully underscoring the idea that there are few certainties in the life of a refugee. Ages 4–7. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

This beautiful, understated story is extremely important right now; it will resonate with many and open the eyes of children unfamiliar with the experience of immigration.

STARRED REVIEW Booklist

A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Picture Book of the Year
A NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children Recommended Book
A USBBY Outstanding International Book
A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year
Selected for the Notable Books for a Global Society list

"Hope and hardship coexist in this haunting look at refugees fleeing home in hopes of a safer, more secure life." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

"An important and timely picture book for every library collection." — School Library Journal, starred review

"...it's a masterpiece of understatement. In leaving readers with much to wonder about, the book packs the most powerful of punches." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Two White Rabbits belongs on bookshelves everywhere: it’s an extraordinary, compelling first step to understanding and empathy, and a persuasive teaching tool to inspire effective doing." — BookDragon

"Older readers will appreciate the allegory, and younger ones the simplicity of this spare immigration tale." — Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 07/01/2015
K-Gr 3—A young girl and her father face challenges together as they move from place to place. They travel by foot and by train and are happy to catch a ride with passersby when they can. Sometimes their journey is delayed (or derailed) when they must stop because of soldiers or if father has to earn more money to continue along their way. Told entirely through the sensibility of the child, the narration informs readers that "the people who are taking us don't always take us where we are going." The young girl passes the time by counting the interesting items she sees such as animals, people, clouds, and stars. She is very curious about where they are headed, but never receives an answer to her query. Yet, she is content because she has her daddy and her two white rabbits. This simple, yet poignant picture book beautifully illustrates the life of one migrating family. Set in Central America or Mexico, it shows the arduous journey north to the United States in search of a better life. This book is a great tool for introducing immigration, and can be appreciated on many levels. The digitally created illustrations are detailed and full of expression, telling a story of love, struggle, and determination. VERDICT An important and timely picture book for every library collection.—Amy Shepherd, St. Anne's Episcopal School, Middleton, DE

School Library Journal

★ 2015-08-12
"When we travel, I count what we see," this little girl tells readers. She counts hens, cows, "one little bored donkey," and a russet mutt that her father calls a chucho and that joins the two on the road. That one Spanish word and a sign for the frontera constitute some of the few textual clues to the pair's circumstances. Adult readers will see Latin American migrants, probably without papers to judge by the raft they ride across the river and the soldiers they flee. Children will see an adventure that's sometimes thrilling, sometimes boring, sometimes terrifying—how much will depend on how familiar readers are with this perilous trek, but even those from the coziest of homes will detect some. They ride atop boxcars, and they stop while Papá works to make money for the next leg of the journey. They are dark-skinned; their fellow migrants range from pale to dark. The only constants are the chucho, the girl's stuffed bunny, "the way people we meet on the road look at us," and the current of affection that runs between father and daughter. The story does not conclude; it simply ends with the companions "back on the road," now with the titular rabbits. Like the creators' previous book, Jimmy the Greatest (2012), it's a masterpiece of understatement. In leaving readers with much to wonder about, the book packs the most powerful of punches. (Picture book. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews