Dick Gackenbach, the illustrator of all the Adam Joshua Capers, is also the author-illustrator of more than a score of books of his own. Mr. Gackenbach lives in Washington Depot, Connecticut.
Hattie Rabbit's brother Tom stars in this third installment of the Hattie Rabbit early reader series from author/illustrator Dick Gackenbach. In Hamburgers, Hamburgers Tom refuses every refreshing treat Mother Rabbit offers, insisting that he wants a hamburger. Mother Rabbit tells him eventually he will turn into a hamburger, and Tom plays a prank to convince her he has. In Tom's Pet, our leporine hero asks to keep a variety of animals as pets, only to be told no each time. When he asks for dinosaur, his mother is convinced to say yes, because they are extinct. Little does she know that Tom has a trick up his sleeve...
Published in 1977, Mother Rabbit's Son Tom is part of the Early I Can Read collection, and features the same matter-of-fact humor as its two predecessors, Hattie Rabbit and Hattie Be Quiet, Hattie Be Good. Here we have a story about a picky eater who only wants to eat one thing—a common childhood experience, it seems—and who plays a prank in response to the admonitions of his mother, and one about a child cleverly presenting his requests in such a way that he eventually gets what he wants. In both, Tom Rabbit emerges as something of a trickster. I think beginning readers will enjoy the humor here, and the reveals at the end of each story. The artwork has vintage charm, with its cartoon style and limited reddish washes. Recommended to anyone seeking beginning readers with fun stories and family humor.
I absolutely loved this book as a child. My favorite part of it being the first short story, "Hamburgers, Hamburgers." But I can recall seeing that bland dark brown on brown tattered and torn cover and I would get so excited. I will have to hunt down a copy for my own child.