The Best Gift of All

by Jonathan Emmett, Vanessa Cabban (Illustrator)

"Cuddly animals drawn in a palette of soft, autumn watercolors reinforce the warm and fuzzy feeling of Emmett's story. A pleasant selection for fall storytimes and a good choice for beginning readers." —  School Library Journal

It's cold and blustery outside, and the best place for Mole to be is underground in his burrow. But it's been a long time since he's seen his friend Rabbit, so he tunnels through the ground to see her, meeting his friends Squirrel and Hedgehog along the way. When they find Rabbit under the weather with a terrible cold, Squirrel and Hedgehog give their friend gifts. Mole worries that he has nothing to offer, until Rabbit points out that he has brought her the very best gift of all — his friendship.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Friendship, Autumn, Rabbits, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 12, 2008

About the author

Jonathan Emmett was born in Leicestershire in 1965, the son of a factory fitter and a primary school teacher.

Jonathan loved books from an early age and some of his earliest memories are of visiting his local library. The picture books that he borrowed then, including Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss and Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson have had a great influence on the picture books that he now writes.

It was while Jonathan was at college, studying architecture, that he first started developing his own illustrated texts, illustrating poems and lyrics that he’d written. Pleased with the results, he found himself spending more and more time on writing and illustration. Although he qualified as an architect, he found the job unsatisfying and began pursuing a career in children's books in his spare time, eventually going full-time in 1995, a few months before his thirtieth birthday.

As well as writing picture books such as Bringing Down the Moon, Someone Bigger, Pigs Might Fly and Ruby Flew Too, Jonathan also writes and paper-engineers pop-up books. His books have won several awards including the Red House Children’s Book Award “Book for Younger Children” for Pigs Might Fly and the Kiekeboekprijs for Bringing Down the Moon.

He now lives in Nottingham with his wife, Rachel, and children, Max and Laura.

You can visit Jonathan’s website atjonathanemmett.com

Reviews

[Kathryn]

Well, there is really nothing "new" here but it's a sweet story about friendship and, gosh, I really can't help smiling over these cute woodland critters ;-)

[Michelle Turnure]

Love the illustrations in this book. The animal characters are all adorable. Each page has a beautiful, soft, and joyful look. The story takes the reader on an adventure with a group of animal friends and how they visit a sick rabbit friend. It has a nice message - that making an effort to see someone and support them is the greatest gift. The text was a little long on each page to read out loud to my baby but she liked looking at the illustrations. It took a couple times of sitting down to read through it. I imagine she will like to read it through its entirety in one sitting soon enough.

[Kit Feral]

this was a cute 3 star that gets 4 star because mole saying "what the weevil" cracked me up.

[Heydi Smith]

A wonderful addition to any fall or friendship story time. Very sweet!

[Rose Rosetree]

First of all, from the Faint Praise Department, our Goodreads Blurber points out the following quote-worthy praise for this book from School Library Journal:

"A pleasant selection for fall storytimes and a good choice for beginning readers."

Ouchee, seems to this Goodreader that Jonathan Emmett put his heart and soul into this picture book for the very youngest readers. Only to have it called "pleasant"?????

THIS STORY MIGHT REMIND YOU A BIT OF THE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN BOOKS BY A.A. MILNE

Very mild plotting is matched by simple words. Although bland to us jaded grownups, it's all very interesting in its blissful-toddlerhood way. For instance:

Squirrel peered down the hole
and was astonished to see Mole
peering back up at her:

"Mole!" said Squirrel.
"What are you doing at the bottom of my hole?"

"Squirrel!" said Mole with a laugh.
"What are you doing at the top of my tunnel?"

Mole explained that he was going to see Rabbit.

"What a great idea," said Squirrel. "Can I come too?"

FOR MY RATING

Intellectually I'd call this book a bit more sophisticated that the A.A. Milne opus. Another diff is how it's Americanish, not British.

Nothing seems really original here but let's remember: For a three-year old everything is original.

FIVE STARS from me. (Me = somebody grateful that, despite all of life's adult problems, I am my current age. No longer three years old.)

Thank you, author Jonathan Emmett and illustrator Vanessa Cabban.

BTW in a comment below I'll give my most cringy personal example of receiving Faint Praise.

[Harumichi Mizuki]

This book really made me smile from ear to ear. Autumn had come. The rain kept falling. The Mole badly missed Rabbit so he dag the tunnel to visit her in her burrow.

A series of funny scenes happened when The Mole surprised The Squirrel and The Hedgehog on his way. They wanted to visit The Rabbit as well.

Apparently The Rabbit didn't come outside because she was sick. She was so lonely and hoping her friends could visit them. That was when her three friends falling down from her ceiling. Haha.

Knowing that The Rabbit was sick, The Squirrel brought her some acorns. The Hedgehog brought her some dried leaves to make a fresh bed for The Rabbit.

The Mole went gloomy coz he was the only one who didn't bring any gift. But The Rabbit said that The Mole has brought her everyone and that was the best gift of all.

So heartwarming and touching. Oh my God....

[Jennifer]

Mole misses his friend Rabbit but hates to be out in the rain. So, he decides to do what he's best at: build a tunnel. Along the way he picks up a couple friends and we get a great message about friendship and using your gifts to bless others. Gorgeous illustrations accompany the text, which is sometimes a little long for reading aloud. Still, this is a solid addition to a story time on Autumn, friendship, or woodland animals. In a pinch, it could be used in a weather themed story time drawing on what we can do when it's raining outside.

[Christie Kaaland]

A cute story (though a bit saccharine for my taste) of mole and rabbit and friends. It's been raining and Mole hasn't seen his friend rabbit in oh-s0-long so he decides (since it's raining) to visit her via a tunnel to her home. Along the way he encounters squirrel and hedgehog and when the three land in rabbit's hole, they find that she has been laid up with a cold. Cheerful illustrations bring the theme of friendship home to very young readers.

[Brianna Clark]

This is an adorable book about friendship and how we can all contribute something when being around friends even if that is just bringing everyone together. Children could get to see not only a mole but a squirrel, rabbit, and a hedgehog and how they enjoy the world outside. This could be a fun book to read in the fall when leaves are changing and its raining a lot here in washington.

[♥♣Mary♦♠ If She So Pleases]

A cute autumn book.

[Bookworm]

It's fall, and Mole and his friends find ways to visit their ill friend. A cute story that tugs on your heart strings.

[Terresa Wellborn]

Themes: gifts, animals, friendship, fall/autumn
Ages: preK-1st grade (lengthy, shorten for younger audiences)
Pub year: 2008

[Megan Cureton]

Mole was sick of the rain! It had rained all week, and he just wanted to see his friends, especially Rabbit. So Mole had a wonderful idea, he doesn't need to go out in the rain, he can visit her by tunnel! When Mole was coming to the surface, he suddenly was getting pelted with nuts that the Squirrel had been collecting. Squirrel entered the hole with Mole on a quest to see Rabbit. They thought they would come up again hoping to be at Rabbit's, when Hedgehog felt something scrape his backside through his pile of leaves. It was Mole and Squirrel! They explained the situation to Hedgehog and he thought it was a splendid idea to go visit Rabbit too, so he joined. Rabbit was sick all week, and had been wishing someone would drop in to see her when suddenly Mole, Squirrel, and Hedgehog came barreling in. When they realized Rabbit was under the weather, Squirrel brought her some of her nuts to eat, and Hedgehog brought her some of his leaves for a fresh bed, and before long Rabbit was feeling better. Mole was sad because Squirrel and Hedgehog both brought her something but he didn't have anything to give, but Rabbit made sure that he knew that bringing her friends was the best gift of all. I really enjoyed this story. Even though they went from an animal stand point, it shows the real meaning behind friendship. I would have this book in my future classroom library for kindergarten to second graders. I think they would appreciate the story and see that the author is putting an emphasis on the importance of friendship, which is hard to find in kindergarten and second grade. This will let them see a good example of how to be someone's friend and what to do to become someone's really good friend. I liked the illustrations in this book. I feel like they added details to the story and I like how they took up the whole page and they set the text around the illustrations, they didn't set the illustrations around the text. I also like the colors chosen for this book, they remind me of fall, by looking at the colors chosen for the leaves. I think friendship is important, so I really like how they refer to friendship as the best gift of all in this story. I look forward to buying this story in the future to put in my classroom library.

[Thomasina Dinehdeal]

The Best Gift of All by Jonathan Emmett is about a mole who is stuck in inside his burrow because it has been raining all week. He started to miss his best friend rabbit and began to worry about her because she might be sick. So he decides to dig a tunnel to her to so what she is up to and to see how she is feeling. Along the way Mole meets some friends who he takes with him to see Rabbit.

The illustrations were colorful. I like how the illustrations showed the reactions of the cute critters. I like how there was space for the text to be written in. They were easy to read and it well with the illustrations. What caught my eye while reading the book was how the illustrations demonstrated movement. The illustrator used swirls to show that it windy causing the leaves the fall of the trees. I learned from the book that you don't need to 'buy' or 'bring' anything to make a friend happy , they just need your support and company to make them happy.

[Annie]

The Best Gift of All is a story about a mole who decides to visit his rabbit friend after being cooped up in his hole by the rain. He worries she might be sick, and burrows a tunnel to her hole. Along the way he meets his squirrel and hedgehog friends and they follow along on the adventure.

The story is a sweet one about the importance of friendship. The pictures are very cute, although they are too small for large groups of children. Often the creatures are drawn only 3 inches high. The pictures are still very colourful, and pleasing to look at.

The story itself is a little wordy. I'm not sure if a wiggly child could sit through it. However it is a very sweet story, and would be a good story to read with your own children. Not recommended for classrooms. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

[u1124876 UEL]

This autumnal coloured book is a journey that we are taken on with Mole and his friends to seek out their friend Rabbit.

The main focus of this book is friendship and that by bringing Rabbit, who is feeling unwell, of all of her friends that Mole has given Rabbit the best gift of all.

I will say that when the animals ask Mole 'Can I come too?' That adding a please on to this sentence would go a miss but otherwise it is a lovely story.

Again, I would imagine reading this with KS1 children and getting them to share ideas on friendship and how the animals such as Squirrel and Hedgehog are all different but all special.

[Thia]

friends, giving

[Rachel]

Nice story about friendship

[Debbie]

Mole misses Rabbit, whom he hasn't seen in a while. He decided to tunnel underground to her home, and along the way brings along Squirrel and Hedgehog.

[Peacegal]

This will be a good read-aloud choice for our library program, but adults will be wincing at how dopey and treacly it is.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian]

Theme: moles
Additional themes: borrowing animals, squirrel, hedgehog, rabbit

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Christine Turner]

Lovable Mole ("No Place Like Home") returns in his fourth adventure, celebrating the simple joy of spending time with friends

[Mandy]

(3.5 stars)