Water Rat's Picnic

Tales of the Little Grey Rabbit #14

by Alison Uttley

Water-Rat was very proud of his boat. "She's the tightest, trimmest little craft on the river," he boasted. Of course, he wastes no time in inviting little Grey Rabbit and Squirrel out for a river-picnic, but there's no room for poor Hare on his boat! But Hare cannot miss the opportunity for a feast, and decides to run along the bank as the others glide in the boat. And so, as little Grey Rabbit steers, and Squirrel twirls her sunshade in the bows, the river trip begins. The water-hens are charming, but the ducks are rough and mischievous and nearly bring the picnic to an end. Water-Rat saves the day by diving for the picnic, and Hare soon catches up to partake in the fare. Unfortunately, Hare's curiosity lures him to Rat's boat, and lands him in the water! This time, though, the naughty ducks redeem themselves by hauling him out. "Atishoo!" sneezed Hare! AGE 4-8 .

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Animals, Picture Books

48 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1943

About the author

Alison Uttley (17 December 1884 – 7 May 1976), née Alice Jane Taylor, was a prolific British writer of over 100 books. She is now best known for her children's series about Little Grey Rabbit, and Sam Pig.

For more information, please see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_U...

http://www.answers.com/topic/alison-u...

Reviews

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of my favourites as a child, and I always wondered what water-lily bud jam would be like.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Water-Rat decides that he will have a picnic so he invites his friends Grey Rabbit and Squirrel to join him. So they prepare all the goodies and set off in their rowing boat to find a nice picnic spot on the bank of the river. Hare sees them on their way and wants to join them but there is no room in the boat so Water-Rat tells him to run along the bank alongside the boat and they will meet up when they find a suitable spot.

Unfortunately the threesome in the boat meet up with a family of troublesome ducks on the river. There are 14 of them and they play havoc with Water-Rat, Squirrel and Grey Rabbit, who each lose some of their possessions. They also lose the picnic basket over the side but they manage to rescue it, even though it is dripping wet!

They arrive at a suitable picnic spot and settle down for their picnic. Then Hare decides he will have a row on the river but he meets with disaster as he capsizes the boat and ends up in the river. The naughty ducks then do their good turn and rescue Hare who is told to run home to get dry quickly. Kindly Hare invites them to his house to have some tea and meet his housekeeper, Mrs Webster so they set off in the boat to go to his house.

Once there, they meet Mrs Webster, who provides some lovely food, as they have a jolly time before going home to bed. But as they prepare for bed, there is a pitter-patter of feet and some good news arrives ...

The usual lovely Margaret Tempest illustrations accompanies the story.

[Catherine Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another delightful Uttley tale of the English countryside of yore with the lovely illustrations of Margaret Tempest.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some lovely descriptions of plants and animals here and the characters are simply drawn but very effective. We should all have a throughly nice and sensible friend, like little grey rabbit and I’m pretty sure everyone’s got a self dramatising Hare in their life.

[Jenna Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

6yo enjoyed these

[Elizabeth Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh to be a water rat rowing down a river.

Not a fan of the Hare tho, he’s an asshole