The Country Bunny and the Little
Gold Shoes (Sandpiper Books) by
Dubose Heyward
All Time Favorite
The country bunny attains the exalted position of Easter Bunny in spite of
her responsibilities as the mother of twenty-one children.
Personal Review: The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes
(Sandpiper Books) by Dubose Heyward
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by DuBose Heyward and
illustrated by Marjorie Hack has been around for yours. In fact, it made its
first appearance in 1939 and has gone through several printings since that
time. The latest one I could find was 1974, which is far too long ago, as
this is one that we had better not loose.
Briefly, this is the story of a little brown country bunny that happens to be a
female bunny. In this mythological story, as told by the author, there are
actually five Easter Bunnies. These five bunnies are selected for being the

kindest, swiftest and wisest bunnies in the whole wide world. Our little
brown country girl bunny states that when she grows up, she wants to be
one of the five chosen bunnies. The Big White Rich City Bunnies who live
in the fine houses laugh at her, as do the male Jack Rabbits with their long
legs.
When our little brown country bunny, whose name is Cottontail, grows up
she finds herself the mother of twenty-one baby bunnies and responsible
not only for their care, but the care of the house and all that goes with it.
Cottontail trains her children to be very responsible. They help her with
her house work, gardening, washing, sewing, cooking and other skills
useful in living a full life. Word goes out that one of the five Easter
Bunnies has grown too old to do his job (thus far, all the Easter Bunnies
have all been males), and that a new Easter Bunny must be chosen by the
Old Grandfather Bunny. This old rabbit, being rather wise above all others,
of course, chooses our Mother Cottontail. The story goes on in a sweet
way, almost a quest adventure and in the end we find that Mother
Cottontail is not only the wisest, kindest and fastest bunny in the world, but
also the bravest. Don't want any spoilers here, so will stop with the plot
over view.
First, the art work. The artist, Marjorie Hack, has her bunnies dressed in
late Victorian or possibly early Edwardian garb. It is quite detailed and
quite fitting for the story. She has used very mellow colors and each
picture is simple, while at the same time being extremely detailed. In many
ways it is typical of the art work featured in children's literature, of that time,
but then she throws in surprises, such as in the winter sequence where
Cottontail climbs the mountain. The art here jumps way beyond its years.
Actually, I cannot see why this art work would not appeal to everyone,
young and old alike.
As to the message of the story; if you do a search or some advanced
research on this particular book, you will find that it has had a profound
influence on at least two, possibly three, generations of small children,
following them all the way into adult life. This influence has been
extremely positive. You must remember that this book was written in 1939
and you must remember what the world was like at that time.
This is the story of a little girl rabbit that overcame economic, racial, social
and sexual biasness and fulfilled her dreams. This is simply an overall
good message. I read this particular work to a group of seven year old
children, and every single one of them was able to pick up on this theme. I
was so proud of them. Now this book has been accused of having a strong
feminist message (as if this were some sort of dirty word...how sad.) I
suppose it does, indeed, deal quite well with this subject. Again, this is
good. I would suggest that, in my humble opinion, if anyone has a problem
with any of the messages this work projects, then they probably should
move back into the cave they came out of.

This is a work we do not was to lose. Highly recommend this one.
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