Smallest Rabbit

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Winter has come and Smallest Rabbit does not like it one bit. The snow
has covered up all the grass and sweet clover and now he has no time to
play because he has to work hard just finding tree buds to eat. There
must be an easier way, he thinks. When Smallest Rabbit sees an otter
catch a fish in a near-frozen pond, he thinks he’s found his answer;
but he soon discovers that rabbits are not meant to catch fish. Next he
watches a woodpecker obtain its meal; but even with a sharp stone tied
to his head, he quickly learns that this method is not for him either.
After a final calamitous attempt to find a shortcut to spring, Smallest
Rabbit decides that maybe tree buds are not so bad after all.

Although the plot contains no big surprises, Joyce Barkhouse tells this
simple story exceedingly well. Smallest Rabbit’s long-suffering
parents and mocking siblings provide a superb counterpoint to the main
character’s deadpan determination to escape the drudgery of winter.
Barbara Martin’s illustrations are very attractive and add their own
elements of humor. Highly recommended.