Written by Julian Hough and illustrated by Jim Field (Hodder Children’s Books)
Ages 5-8
Gorgeously illustrated, this is a laugh-a-line book about a grumpy rabbit and a cheerful bear … and how friendship makes the world go round. Ideal for readers moving on from picture books.
Rabbit is fed up. Spring has finally arrived, but it’s not as perfect as he hoped it would be. Not only is their cave full of old poo, but as the snow melts outside, it reveals lots of deep frozen animal poo! Rabbit is outraged. He does not want to clean up the mess as he claims the other animals were responsible for the mess too. Bear thinks that if they work hard, they can improve things, a bit.
In a meeting with the animals, Rabbit wants to search for a perfect world but Castor the Successful Beaver suggests instead his vision of a perfectly comfortable chair for everyone… Rabbit has a MUCH better plan. He envisages a world made of marshmallow islands floating in a hot chocolate lake. A perfect world, in other words. He sets off across the lake to find it…
Meet Rabbit & Bear in the classic series that has taken the world by storm. This is a story of hope, friendship, a very long journey with no breakfast, and an entire island made of … of … wait … is that chocolate? It looks like chocolate … What ensues is hilarious and silly and will have little kids crying out with laughter. Expect silly poo jokes balanced with quite deep musings on failure and friendship. In the end Rabit discovers that real friends make our world perfect and actually – it already is perfect!
If your children love Roald Dahl, they’ll love Rabbit & Bear. Read the books aloud to children 5+ or encourage children to read them alone from ages 7 up.
‘Rabbit’s Bad Habits is a breath of fresh air in children’s fiction, a laugh-out-loud story of rabbit and wolf and bear, of avalanches and snowmen. The sort of story that makes you want to send your children to bed early, so you can read it to them.’ Neil Gaiman
Meet the author:
Julian Gough is the author of several novels, a children’s book, some BBC radio plays, and the narrative at the end of Minecraft computer game. His first children’s book, Rabbit’s Bad Habits, published in 2016, has been widely critically-acclaimed; Neil Gaiman called ‘a laugh-out-loud story’, and Eoin Colfer called ‘an instant modern classic’. Julian has won the BBC National Short Story Award and has been shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.
Julian came up with the idea for Rabbit & bear while reading a perfectly boring rabbit and bear picture book to his 6 year old daughter. “There was no conflict; no drama; no STORY. All the animals were polite, well-behaved, and perfect. They had nothing to learn, and nowhere to go. No problem to solve… no animal I know is nice, friendly and perfect. How boring would THAT be? Animals wee on the carpet sometimes, and sniff each other’s bottoms ALL the time, and chew the furniture.”
He resolved to write a book that entertained and gave a more realistic picture and the result has been a run away hit.
Read more about his inspiration and process here.
Jim Field is an award-winning illustrator, character designer and animation director. He has illustrated many bestselling children’s books, including Oi Frog! (written by Kes Gray) and The Lion Inside (written by Rachel Bright). Jim is also the illustrator of the Rabbit and Bear series, J.K. Rowling’s The Christmas Pig and his debut author-illustrator bilingual picture book, Monsieur Roscoe on Holiday.
Read all the Rabbit and Bear books, in any order:
1. Rabbit’s Bad Habits
2. The Pest in the Nest
3. Attack of the Snack
4. A Bite in the Night
5. A Bad King is a Sad Thing
6. This Lake is Fake!
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