Daily children’s book recommendations and events from Anita Silvey.
Discover the stories behind the children’s book classics . . .
The new books on their way to becoming classics . . .
And events from the world of children’s books—and the world at large.
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Sometimes, after a controversy has swarmed around a book, it is almost impossible to see it as the author intended. That is true of today’s book for Banned Books Week (September 22-28), Garth Williams’s The Rabbits’ Wedding—one of the next major picture books, after The Story of Ferdinand to create an incredible ruckus. At its heart, The Rabbits’ Wedding is a simple love story with spectacular art, executed in black, white, and yellow. A creator who crafted iconic illustrations for some of our great novels—such as Charlotte’s Web and the Little House books—Williams could also pull off a picture book with dexterity and grace.
In The Rabbits’ Wedding two rabbits, who live in a forest, love to hop, skip, jump, and play games together. The male rabbit is thoughtful and pensive; the female rabbit more playful and happy. He keeps thinking about how he wants them to be together always. And in a predictable conclusion, he asks her to wed. Then they have a celebration where all the other animals come to dance in a circle around the newly married bunnies. Sunlight, dandelions, pastures—all is bliss in this book. Trained as a sculptor, Williams brings weight and texture to his art creating characters that seem three-dimensional and ready to come off the page.
So why the controversy over this seemingly innocent title? Published first in 1958, The Rabbits’ Wedding features black and white rabbit protagonists. The artist most likely chose these colors to help delineate the two characters in a limited-color book, but adults interpreted this lovely romp in the forest as an endorsement of interracial marriage. As Leonard Marcus recounts the controversy in Minders of Make-Believe, The Montgomery Home News condemned the book, then Alabama politicians rallied against the book and spoke out against the director of the Alabama Public Library Service Division, Emily Reed. She had held her ground in ordering copies of this racy title to circulate to Alabama libraries.
I believe The Rabbits’ Wedding is simply a sweet idyll about two rabbits that fall in love. That is my story, and I’m sticking to it. But take a look yourself. Times have definitely changed; if you want to provide a lovely gift for an interracial couple, you definitely would want to consider The Rabbits’ Wedding. But it works for any romantic—after all, our protagonist only wants to be with his loved one “forever and always.”
Here’s a page from The Rabbits’ Wedding:
Additional Information
A few other events for
- Happy birthday Nette Hilton (Andrew Jessup) and Elie Wiesel (King Solomon and His Magic Ring).
- It’s the birth date of Edgar D’Aulaire (1898-1986), Abraham Lincoln and D’Aulaires’ Book of Trolls, Alvin Tresselt (1916-2000), White Snow, Bright Snow; Hide and Seek Fog, and Carol Fenner (1929-2002), Yolanda’s Genius.
- The protagonist of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked on a tropical Island on this day.
- On this day in 1791, Mozart’s last opera, The Magic Flute, premiers in Vienna. Read Polo and the Magic Flute by Règis Faller.
- In 1947, baseball’s World Series was televised for the first time. Read First Pitch by John Thorn.
- It’s Ask a Stupid Question Day, though most teachers and librarians will tell you there are no stupid questions. Read The Stupids Step Out by Harry Allard, illustrated by James Marshall, and The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth.