Rabbit Hill

Rabbit Hill
	Book cover
Author	Robert Lawson
Illustrator	Robert Lawson
Language	English
Genre	Children's novel
Publisher	The Viking Press
Publication date	1944
Publication place	United States
Media type	Hardcover, paperback
Pages	127 pp
Followed by	The Tough Winter

Rabbit Hill is a children's novel by Robert Lawson that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1945.^[1]

Plot introduction

The story takes place in the countryside near Westport, Connecticut. The animal inhabitants are suffering as the house nearby has been abandoned for several years and the untended garden, the animals' source of food, has withered to nothing. "New Folks" then move into the house: Are they hunters, or friendly gardeners who will provide for the animals?

Literary significance and criticism

The book was written at the end of World War II when racial integration and providing aid to the war torn countries of Europe were on everyone's minds. When reading the story with those in mind, the moral intent becomes clear. Printings of the book beginning in the 1970s and continuing today have edited the character Sulphronia, the new occupants' cook. This was done because she was originally depicted as an African American stereotype.^[2]

Film and television

"Little Georgie of Rabbit Hill" was a 1967 television adaptation for NBC Children's Theatre.

References

^ Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2nd ed.). Oxford. University Press. p. 485. ISBN 9780198715542.
^ Peterson, Linda Kauffman; and Marilyn Leathers Solt. Newbery and Caldecott Medal and Honor Books, an Annotated Bibliography, G.K. Hall & Co., 1982.

Awards
Preceded by Johnny Tremain	Newbery Medal recipient 1945	Succeeded by Strawberry Girl

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[1] Hahn, Daniel (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (2nd ed.). Oxford. University Press. p. 485. ISBN 9780198715542.

[2] Peterson, Linda Kauffman; and Marilyn Leathers Solt. Newbery and Caldecott Medal and Honor Books, an Annotated Bibliography, G.K. Hall & Co., 1982.

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