The Country Bunny And The Little Gold Shoes
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''The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes'' is a 1939 children's
picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...
written by
DuBose Heyward Edwin DuBose Heyward (August 31, 1885 – June 16, 1940) was an American author best known for his 1925 novel '' Porgy''. He and his wife Dorothy, a playwright, adapted it as a 1927 play of the same name. The couple worked with composer Georg ...
and illustrated by
Marjorie Flack Marjorie Flack (October 22, 1897 - August 29, 1958) was an American artist and writer of children's picture books. She was born in Greenport, Long Island, New York in 1897. She was best known for '' The Story about Ping'' (1933), illustrated ...
. The book, which has never been out of print, has come to be regarded as a
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
and
anti-racist Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and delibera ...
statement. According to James Hutchisson, professor of English at
The Citadel The Citadel Military College of South Carolina (simply known as The Citadel) is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges ...
, the book is probably based on a story made up by Heyward's mother, Jane Screven DuBose, and told to Heyward when he was a child. Before turning it into a book, Heyward used to tell the story to his own children.


Plot

The book is the story of Cottontail, a small, brown mother bunny who aspires to be an
Easter bunny The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit—sometimes dressed with clothes—bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" origi ...
, which, in this telling, is a highly competitive position for which only five bunnies are selected each year. She applies, only to be scorned by the elite Easter bunnies, "big white bunnies who lived in fine houses" who tell her to "go back to the country and eat a carrot." She returns to the country where "by and by she had a husband and then one day, much to her surprise there were twenty-one Cottontail babies to take care of." She brings them up exceedingly well, teaching them to be responsible, self-reliant and cooperative by requiring them to help in the vegetable garden and with the housework. She returns to the big city, where she not only aces the Easter-bunny job interview, but becomes one of the most celebrated Easter bunnies of all time, admired for her heroism and the skills she learned rearing 21 little bunnies.


Feminist statement

Caroline Kennedy Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (born November 27, 1957) is an American author, diplomat, and attorney who served as the List of ambassadors of the United States to Australia, United States ambassador to Australia from 2022 to 2024. She previously serv ...
calls the heroine of ''Country Bunny'' her "all-time favorite character" from a childhood book: "I see her now as a woman who re-enters the work force after raising a family — 'leans in,' and does it all — much better than the big Jack Rabbits." Author Francis Itani also remembers it as a childhood favorite in which the Country Bunny "goes on a quest to prove that she (as much as the male bunnies) can be wisest, swiftest and kindest."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, The 1939 children's books American picture books Holiday-themed children's books Feminist literature Easter Bunny Easter fiction Children's books about rabbits and hares Clarion Books books Books illustrated by Marjorie Flack