Product Description: Winner of the Children's Book Council Children's Picture Book of the Year (1999). A dramatically moving allegory of colonisation told from the viewpoint of native Australian animals. This stunning picture book examines the consequences of the arrival of a group of rabbits with entirely unfamiliar ways. The rabbits bring new food and animals, and make their own houses to live in, eventually dominating the environment and its other inhabitants.
The change in the native animals' environment is brilliantly depicted by Shaun Tan's illustrations, which also serve to highlight the 'strangeness' of the rabbits. The parallels with our own experience of colonisation are many; stolen children, the onset of industrialisation, and population increases.
buy it for the art and the sentiment expressed Let's get this out of the way first - it's an allegorical retelling of a frankly depressing tale; that of the fate of aboriginal cultures in the face of English colonisation, exploitation and genocide (both planned and unintentional). I agree with the reviewer who states that this isn't the best of kid's bedtime stories; I'd class it along side books about tricky to explain subjects like reproduction or puberty. It's one of those special books you might reach for when your kids come to you with a question that you can't yet address face (i.e., they might not "get it" because of their age, etc.,).
But I frankly take issue with the twerp who fusses about "revisionism" as though the destruction of aboriginal culture never took place and that they're only making trouble. Get over it pal - it happened.
I'd say buy it if nothing else for the artwork - it's the most inventive, clever vision of colonialism and culture clash you'll have seen for some time, with something for everyone there:)
Obvious, short and boring Each year I check out hundreds of library books to read to my children before bed. This is the first time I've been so disappointed by a book that I am writing a review. This book is meant for children but I can't see anything about it that would appeal to children. The illustrations are scary, the story is short and boring.
The connection between actual history and this story will certainly be lost on the age range of children targeted by this book. And for the adults who might be reading it, it is a shallow and obvious parallel. With hundreds upon hundreds of wonderful books out there, skip this one!
Quick! Pass the myxomatosis, I don't think I can read anymore of this... Rewriting history is always an ideological field that's littered with mines.
And this book is no exception to the rule. Only to be taken with a few prior heathly doses of middle class white-man guilt, Marsden and Tan's "The Rabbits" is about the most direct piece of propaganda that I have ever seen.
On the surface the plot reads as a clever metaphor for the consequences and effects of European expansionism, although in reality it is a horridly narrow view of revisionism portrayed for all to see. From 'saving the trees' to 'saving the stolen generation' the author has covered just about all cause célèbres bases in what could only be seen now as a calculated vie for the CBC award.
So if you like to receive your history distorted and your allegories as subtle as a sledgehammer, then this book is for you.
Beautiful Shaun Tan is one of the most talented artists in the picture books/graphic novels. This short book with huge pictures stands as one of his best. Each image is full of small details, beautiful colors, and creativity. It may be too dark for young children but anyone who enjoys beautiful paintings or art in general should find something to love in this book.
If you would like to see more of Shaun Tan's work I highly recommend his recent graphic novel release: The Arrival. It reads like an old silent film and there's no one else's words to get in the way.
good bookieee yer i thought this was a pretty good book, good drawings and illustrations!
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