Review - The Lazy Rabbit

The Lazy Rabbit
by Wilkie J. Martin
illustrated by Tanja Russita
Date: 2019
Publisher: The Witcherley Book Company
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 28
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

One bright morning, when the fresh scents and gentle warmth of early spring filled the air, Vole and Rabbit met on the road.

A cautionary modern fable about a vole and a rabbit telling a tale about the potential perils of laziness.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Yikes! Call the trauma counsellor.

I just finished reading All In the Same Boat by the same author and illustrator, and I thought it was unnecessarily dark for a children's book. The Lazy Rabbit is, if such a thing is possible, even worse! Not only does the rabbit die, his skin gets turned into a pillow and his companion returns to their campsite to find a trail of blood.

I think these books might have worked better a couple hundred years ago. There's a definite grim (Grimm?) feeling to them, with dire consequences for negative personality traits such as greed and laziness. I'm also not sure how easily kids will be able to relate to the animal characters, as anthropomorphized as they are; it's not like kids need to worry about being eaten if they're too lazy to clean up their room.

Perhaps these books will have an audience among hardy kids who like a bit of darkness in their picture books. However, sensitive readers are likely in for a bit of a shock. (I might not have had such a problem with this book if not for the bloody watercolour trail smeared across one spread. That's just a bit too much.)

Thank you to NetGalley and The Witcherley Book Company for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 0/5

Overall: 1.33 out of 5