Little Rabbits New Baby

Little Rabbit

by Harry Horse

Little Rabbit is very excited at the thought of being a big brother. However, when Mama has three babies, instead of the expected one, things don’t go as smoothly as Little Rabbit had hoped. Perhaps babies are not as much fun as he first thought! But Little Rabbit's new siblings adore him and when Little Rabbit is the only one who can get them to sleep, he realizes how special it is to be a big brother. A very poignant tale, full of humourously familiar moments for any family expecting a new baby.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Rabbits, Family, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2006

About the author

Harry Horse wrote and illustrated many books for children, including the popular Little Rabbit picture books and the novels The Last Polar Bears, The Last Castaways, The Last Cowboys, and The Last Gold Diggers. He was also a political cartoonist for several national newspapers in the United Kingdom.

Reviews

[Bethany Oetken]

My 2 year old daughter enjoys this story, but it's a little strange. Why does the grandma rabbit and Little rabbit wear clothes, but the mom and dad rabbit wear nothing?? The newborn baby rabbits are somehow very helpless, but yet can follow little rabbit around and play with his toys? It's a little confusing 😋

[Susan]

Meh. Somewhere between two and three stars rounded up.


On a side note, I so totally wish I had not read about Horse's death. UGH! I do not think I can read any books by this author after that.

[Laura]

Little Bunny is excited when his three younger siblings are brought home. He is eager to play with, teach, and feed them, but grows frustrated when he discovers they don’t know how to eat carrots yet and play too rough with his toys. A frustrated Little Bunny tries to avoid the babies as they follow him around the house, until finally, when Mama and Papa have trouble calming them, he realizes how he can help. By the end of the book they are shown hopping around after him just like he had imagined.

[Hannah]

Cute!

[Suvi]

Perushyvä kuvakirja isosisarukseksi tulemisesta ja sen herättämistä tunteista. Suht pitkä, leikki-ikäisille sopiva.

[Beverly]

Product Description
Mama is expecting a baby and Little Rabbit is going to be a big brother!

He s full of plans; he will teach the baby to play all sorts of games and be the best big brother ever. And when Mama has triplets, it looks like there will be three times the fun.

But having babies around might not be as much fun as Little Rabbit thought. They sleep and cry a lot. They are too young to throw a ball and they get their sticky paws on all his toys. They take up all of Mama s and Papa s time. It s not fair! cries Little Rabbit.

As it turns out, the new babies adore Little Rabbit. And one night when a tired Mama and Papa are at their wit s end, Little Rabbit comes to the rescue, consoling his siblings and rocking them to sleep. Now Little Rabbit understands what an important job it is to be a big brother.

I have challenged myself to become more familiar with the books on the shelves in the Chinook Trail Elementary library (The Tiger Den). My goal is to read at least three pictures books from the shelves each week. Friday’s random pull was Little Rabbit’s New Baby by Harry Horse.

This is a delightful story about what it means to be the older sibling. Horse takes us through Little Rabbit anxiously awaiting the birth of his new sibling (turns out to be three new siblings), wanting to play with them right away, being annoyed that they get all the attention and finally learning just how important it is to be “the big brother.” Horse is also the illustrator. His beautiful pictures will delight young readers. If you know of a young child expecting an addition to their family, this is a perfect gift.

Recommended for Pre-K to 2nd Grade.

Mrs. Archer’s rating: 5 of 5!

[Lisa Dominick]

9/3/16
Little Rabbit’s New Baby written and illustrated by Harry Horse is a picture book for children age 3 and up about a Little Rabbit who is waiting for his baby brother or sister, what he does once his siblings arrive, how he tries to take care of them, his annoyance about his siblings, his feelings that his parents care more about the babies than him and finally his development toward taking on the role as big brother. I gave the book a 5-star rating because the storyline was effective with the use of the characters, language and illustrations. The book met my expectations on how a child might act when expecting a new baby brother or sister. The words that were used could be easily understood by children age 3 and older. Although it was about a rabbit a young reader could relate to the ideas and illustrations. A child awaiting a baby brother might be excited about the new arrival, want to help the parents with the baby once born and have feelings of being unwanted because of the new baby. The illustrations were appropriate for what a house or hospital might look like for a rabbit with underground tunnels. Finally, I liked how the book depicted that Little Rabbit developed into the bigger brother for his siblings. Ultimately the goal of the book was to help children who are expecting a new baby sibling see how important their role is as a big brother or sister and this book did just that.

[The Library Lady]

Cute enough in that bunny-wunny sort of way so many adults adore. (though I'm not too sure the children do)
I wouldn't use this as a "big brother/sister" story though. While rabbit babies may be ready to sit in high chairs and learn to play with toys within days of birth, it does take a BIT longer for human babies, and you'd be setting up YOUR child for even more disappointment than "Little Rabbit" faces!

[Sandra]

A delightful story perfect for a new big brother or sister. Little Rabbit's mom is going to have a baby soon and Little Rabbit is all ready planning all the games and adventures they'll share. But when Dad and he get to the hospital there's a surprise awaiting. Will he be able to do all the things he's been thinking about or will he have to miss out because the baby is too little to do anything? Wonderfully illustrated and warmly written with care.

[Inna Nako]

-mama rabbit is going to have a baby, and little rabbit is excited
-but things change when the babies come, and little rabbit doesnt feel loved anymore because all the attention is on the babies.
-at the end, little rabbit helps mama rock the babies to sleep and is excited to be a helper
-real world connections can be made with many of the kids with their younger siblings

[Libby]

I'm not sure what the exact appeal about this story was...it might be all the mishaps with the baby bunnies...but the kids loved this and we reread it several times. It was cute but not one I would have chosen to reread by myself. My own favorite part was when the father bunny is surprised to learn that he has three new babies instead of one.

[Rita]

Little Rabbit was so excited to have three new babies at home, but when they started to ruin his toys and take all of moms attention he got upset. One night when the babies would not stop crying for mom, Little Rabbit came to the rescue and ended up being a great helper.

[Rachel]

A typical "new baby" story from the older sibling point of view. Fairly generic. On the upside, the illustrations were very sweet and very detailed. I especially liked the image of the maternity ward in a rabbit hospital.

[Jenna]

Suloinen tarina malttamattomasti pienempää sisarusta odottavasta Pikkukanista ja hänen pienemmistä sisaruksistaan! Mitä kaikkea kummaa isomman sisaruksen malttamattomat toimet aiheuttavatkaan perheen mullistuneessa arjessa - sitä tässä kuvakirjassa kuvitellaan.

[Tricia]

big sibling rabbit struggles with new babies in the house and his feelings of being left out.

[Skylar Burris]

As long as you don't mind the kid giving the new baby a balloon to play with, this is a fun little book.

[Beck]

I think I liked this one, but I can't quite remember....I must've forgotten to put it in GoodReads.

EDIT 1/3/10: Aha! Looked through it again: yes, I liked it.

[Heather]

41 months - covers all kinds of things that might be going through a siblings mind. It's cute.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Perhaps a nice new baby book for a soon-to-be older sibling, but the surprise of triplets might be a bit odd to explain. Cute illustrations of tiny bunnies.

[Sarah]

A little long for little ones, but a good message.

[Bruce the Bookshark]

Papa’s Commentary

I wanted to read this to you, but Mama got there first.