Little Rabbit's Questions

by Dayong Gan
Age Range: Under_5

Little Rabbit is very inquisitive and he’s always asking questions. One day Little Rabbit and Mama Rabbit are out in the garden and he asks:

“Why are your eyes so big?” Little Rabbit asks his mother.
“So I can see things high up.” She replies.
“Why do you need to see things high up?”
“So I can see where you have flown to.”
“But I can’t fly,”
“One day you’ll grow up and fly far away from me.”

The questions from Little Rabbit follow this vane throughout the book as he asks his mother why she has such long ears, a twitching nose, a big mouth, strong legs, and why there are little rabbits. To each question Mamma Rabbit patiently reassures him and gently explains that one day he will be grown up and move away, but that she will always be there for him in some way.

Chinese author and illustrator Dayong Gan is a freelance picture book creator as well as a computer engineer. The delicate watercolour artwork are done in Chinese brush painting and are influenced by the brush-pen cartoon art of Feng Zikai (1898-1975). Gan’s paintings are set during the era when Feng created his signature style – Mama Rabbit dons the qipao dress that was popular among Chinese women during the first half of the twentieth century.

This is a beautiful, philosophical story, expertly translated by award-winning translator Helen Wang with gorgeous emotive artwork.