Little Rabbit and the Sea

by Gavin Bishop

Little Rabbit has never seen the sea. But all day long he thinks about it, and every night in his dreams he sails in his little boat with the wind in his ears. ""What is the sea like?"" he asks his father, and his grandmother, and his uncle. They all give him vivid yet different answers, which only makes Little Rabbit long to see for himself. But the sea is far away. Then one day, a kindly sea gull shows Little Rabbit the sea. And it turns out to be everything he's ever imagined -- and much, much more. Gavin Bishop's sweet, simple story celebrates youthful yearnings and dreams come true.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Gavin Bishop is a highly acclaimed children’s book author and illustrator. Born in Invercargill, he spent his childhood in the remote railway settlement of Kingston on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. Studying under Russell Clark and Rudi Gopas, Gavin graduated from the Canterbury University School of Fine Arts with an honours degree in painting. He taught art at Linwood High School (now Linwood College) and at Christ’s College in Christchurch.

He won the Margaret Mahy Medal in 2000, and has also won numerous other fellowships and national book awards. His book The House that Jack Built won the Book of the Year and Best Picture Book at the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards 2000. Weaving Earth and Sky won the non-fiction section and the Book of the Year Award of the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards 2003, and was shortlisted for the LIANZA Elsie Lock Medal in 2003. He has won the LIANZA Russell Clark Medal for Illustration four times. Among his successful partnerships has been that with writer Joy Cowley, with whom he won the Best in Junior Fiction and Book of the Year at the 2008 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards for Snake and Lizard.

The Storylines Gavin Bishop Award for Picture Book Illustration was established in 2009 to encourage emergent illustrators and to acknowledge Gavin’s contribution to the writing and illustrating of children’s picture books. In 2013 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and President of Honour of the NZ Society of Authors, and he was the recipient of the 2013 Arts Foundation Mallinson Rendel Illustrator’s Award. Gavin’s artwork has featured in exhibitions internationally, including Japan and Czechoslovakia. He has written and designed two ballets for the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company: Terrible Tom and Te Maia and the Sea Devil. In 2003, during the Ursula Bethell Residency, he wrote and illustrated Giant Jimmy Jones, the world’s first three-dimensional animated picture book for HITLab at the University of Canterbury.

Reviews

[James Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet story that I'll definitely read to my nephew! The illustrations are very well done! 🐇

[MelMon Sanchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Putting his imagination and words to use, little rabbit makes his dream come to life. Let you little ones listen to the sea and dream with little rabbit on this little read out adventure.

[Miss Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Get a big shell for listening before reading this. A missed opportunity!

[The Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little rabbit wants to be a sailor more than anything, but his has never even seen the sea. He asks some relatives what the see is like and they each give him different answers. One day a seagull drops him a large seashell and he discovers that all their answers are right.

Sweet illustrations.