The Rabbits

Simply Read Books; Winner of the Children's Book Council Children's Picture Book of the Year (1999). A dramatically moving allegory of colonisation told from the viewpoint of native Australian animals. This stunning picture book examines the consequences of the arrival of a group of rabbits with entirely unfamiliar ways. The rabbits bring new food and animals, and make their own houses to live in, eventually dominating the environment and its other inhabitants. A hauntingly beautiful, thought-provoking picture book about colonisation and the effect of man on the environment, from Shaun Tan, winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal. The rabbits came many grandparents ago. They built houses, made roads, had children. They cut down trees. A whole continent of rabbits... The Rabbits is a thought-provoking allegorical fable about colonisation and the effect of man on the environment. Told from the perspective of the colonised, an unseen narrator describes the coming of the 'rabbits'. An encounter that is at first friendly and curious, but later darkens... Sparse, strange and stunningly beautiful, The Rabbits is a truly unique picture book.