Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present

Written by Charlotte Zolotow

Narrated by Owen Jordan

A little girl wants to give her mother a special present and asks Mr. Rabbit for help.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Weston Woods
• Release date: Jan 1, 1991
• ISBN: 9780545475747

Charlotte Zolotow

Charlotte Zolotow was a legendary children’s book editor and author. She wrote more than seventy picture books for children in her lifetime.

Reviews for Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present

[booklover3258 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I love finding and reading old children's books. This one was okay. The illustrations were nice but the repetition throughout the story because stale after a few pages. I did like the ending with the fruits and the basket. I guess children could learn the colors from this book and the items associated with the colors.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well, I'd love a fruit basket for my birthday. And I never got anything creepy from this. No, I won't revisit it to check my memory from decades ago.

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bought a copy at a thrift store to release via bookcrossing.com
Decided to go ahead and reread it. Text is lovely. Fruit basket is lovely. Poses and settings in pix are lovely. Big-headed girl and naked man shaped rabbit are a bit creepy, I admit.

[crazy4reading · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another book that I bought for my kids when they were little. I decided to read it before I donate it to the library. The pictures are beautiful in this book. A little girl needs a present for her mother because it is her birthday. It is a great book to introduce children to colors and to reading.

[fjola-5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Utterly charming! This book has so much charm, between the earnest, serious little girl looking for the perfect present for her mother and the helpful, comical, casual Mr. Rabbit. The pace of the book is entrancing, part suspenseful, part predictable, feels like sailing in a light summer breeze. I can see why children have loved this book for half a century.

"Something blue, maybe," said the little girl.
"Lakes are blue," said the rabbit.
"But I can't give her a lake, you know," said the little girl.

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What a joy to read this to our two little neighborhood girls tonight. It was a lovely evening and such fun to have their company. A little girl asks a rabbit for help in choosing just the right birthday present for her mother.As the rabbit provides ideas, the child rejects them until the last item. Knowing her mother likes red, she cannot give her a cardinal, a red roof or red underwear, but she can give her mother an apple.As the reader journeys with the little girl through a spectrum of colors, the end result is a bananna for yellow, a pear for green and blue for grapes.Ashley and Kayla had great fun running on the deck and throughout the yard identifying objects that matched the colors mentioned in the book.This is a gentle story of the love a daughter has for her mother in wanting to choose a very special gift.I loved the gentle illustrations!

[karenamorg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This 1963 Caldecott Honor book is a thoughtful concept book about four colors (red, yellow, green and blue). The colors are introduced within a whole narrative story, written by Charlotte Zolotow, rather than like the common concept color book that simply shows the color or objects of a certain color accompanied by the word for the color. A rabbit suggests items of a certain preferred color as possible birthday gifts to a little girl asking what she should get her mother for a birthday gift. None of the suggestions suits her, until he names fruit (apple for red, banana for yellow, pear for green and grapes for blue). Maurice Sendak’s muted watercolor illustrations set the perfect, peaceful tone. Limited as a book teaching color, because even most preschoolers know those four colors, and the overall quality of the illustrations is very soft and subdued. It is successful depicting patterns (the story structure) and patience. Because the story includes humor and a clever pattern, this book would be suitable for children in preschool through second grade.Zolotow, C., Sendak, M., & Harper & Row, Publishers. (1962). Mr. Rabbit and the lovely present. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.

[fatlamb · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Caldecott winner, really... I am sorry but the illustrations do nothing for me. The illustrations do not enhance the story, I find the illustrations bland and boring. The story is cute, heart warming, and a good story but not for me. A little girl needing assistance in finding a birthday present for her mother asks a rabbit to help her. I can see how children would like the book because of the rhythmic story, after a while children can predict what the rabbit and little girl will be saying, with a straight forward dialogue. The concept revolves around colors, it does a good job in making connections with common objects for children with color. Ages 4 and up.

[mmuncy_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is about a young girl who doesn't know what to give her mother as a present. She asks Mr. Rabbit for help and they start trying to figure out what to give her. They start with what her mother likes. After much discussion the girl gives her mother a basket full of fruit.This book was good, but not one of my favorites. The illustration of the rabbit was a little strange to me.I would have students write a short story over what they would get their mother or someone else for a present.

[ieliasson_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present is simply a lovely little picture book. Sweet and gentle, it is a humorous journey into the ultimate gift giving dilemma—Mommy’s birthday! What child will not empathize with the heroine’s hunt for just the right present? This clever concept book surreptitiously slips in color identification and association, as well as a lesson in gift appropriateness. Great bedtime reading that lends itself to further discussion of colors, food, fruits and gifts, as well as if rabbits really can talk . . .

[kb143317 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

A little girl asks Mr. Rabbit to help her find a gift for her mother’s birthday. Mr. Rabbit and the little girl find objects based on colors the mother likes. By the end of the story the present is a basket of fruit that they have gathered throughout their walk in the country. This book had me reminiscing over the presents I use to come up with to give to my mother when I was a small child. I remember when I was six years old painting “Happy Mother’s Day” and flowers on the backside of a paper plate with finger nail polish. This may seem like an odd Mother’s Day gift but my mother proudly holds on to my creation to this day.Extension Ideas1. Discuss the difference between fruits and vegetables. Use the food mentioned in the book along with others in an activity where the children will put them into the correct column and explain why.2. Sort objects based on similar characteristics.

[medebrielle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Mr. Rabbit and the lovely present is a book about a little girl who is trying to find the perfect present for her mother. She asks Mr. Rabbit and he asks what the little girl’s mother’s favorite color is. She tells him and he begins naming fruits that represent those colors. In the end she gives her mother a wonderful basket of fruit.