Blue Rabbit and the Runaway Wheel

by Christopher Wormell

Picking up where Blue Rabbit and Friends left off, Blue Rabbit is pedaling along on his bicycle looking for adventure. Unfortunately he does not pay attention to the road! He crashes into a rock and the wheel spins off his bicycle and rolls away. While searching for the missing wheel, Blue Rabbit meets some angry animals along the way who are upset because a strange "whizzing" thing has knocked them all down. As each animal tells his sorry tale, Blue Rabbit has a growing suspicion of just what this mysterious object may be. Will the hapless Blue Rabbit find his wheel in time to make a quick getaway?Illustrated with the author's highly-praised linocut artwork, this is a marvelous follow-up to Blue Rabbit's previous outing, Blue Rabbit and Friends , called in a starred School Library Journal review, "A simple treat from an author who knows how children's minds work."

Genres: Picture Books, Kids, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Christopher Wormell is an English printmaker, principally known for his illustrated books.

Reviews

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw this book I just had to purchase it for my daughter because, aged about six, she had a blue rabbit that she dearly loved. Indeed, when on holiday she left it behind at Glastonbury and did not realise until we reached our destination of Teignmouth in Devon. The tears meant a trip back to Glastonbury to reunite the pair the following morning. Deborah, now aged, well, over 40, still has her blue rabbit, minus all its stuffing, and still cherishes it to this day! The book will make a lovely Christmas present for her.

In this episode in Blue Rabbit's life, he is out riding his bicycle but is not looking where he is going. He hits a rock and off flies his front wheel. And then the fun begins as in turn a squirrel, a badger and a tortoise all fall foul of the wayward 'whizzing' wheel as Blue Rabbit chases after it. Eventually the three injured animals realise that Blue Rabbit is the reckless rider of the bicycle. But by then he has fixed the wheel back in place and is off down the road again … this time looking where he is going!

Christopher Wormell tells the story with great humour and illustrates it with his own special and colourful linocuts.

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wait, what? The rabbit doesn't apologize, just makes a getaway? I mean, not every children's book has to have a lesson in good citizenship, of course. But this seems just random to me.

And the pictures are simple and bold, and most of the elements of the story are simple... I think it should be a smaller picture-book, not an oversized one. If it should even be, at all....

[Dawn-Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations and a great little story of adventure and independence. I love it.

[Emily]

I'm inexplicably drawn to the assertive line in the illustrations.