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My Friend Rabbit
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From: Robin L. Gibson <gibsonr>
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2003 15:21:56 -0500
I was surprised, but pleasantly so, at the selection of My Friend Rabbit. It is a book that withstands repeated looking very well: the more you look, the more you see. Much of the story is conveyed through the pictures, in the spirit of a true picture book. Rohmann works in woodcut this time, as KT mentioned, quite a departure from his earlier style. He takes a medium that is inherently static and heavy, and somehow manages to convey movement and lightness in his animals. Rabbit is a lovable, mischievous character, much in the spirit of Shannon's Duck (from Duck on a Bike), Alborough's Fix It Duck, and Farmer Brown's Duck from Giggle Giggle Quack (quite a year for the ducks, wasn't it?) The animals are wonderfully expressive -- check out there faces as Rabbit arranges them in a stack. The bold lines of the woodcut are sufficient, but barely so, to contain the elephant who is crammed in to the frame. When the horizontal frame can stretch no further, Rohmann turns the book on it's side for the dramatic climax. When I returned to the book again after the announcement, I was pleased to find so much to look at!
Robin
Received on Tue 04 Feb 2003 02:21:56 PM CST
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2003 15:21:56 -0500
I was surprised, but pleasantly so, at the selection of My Friend Rabbit. It is a book that withstands repeated looking very well: the more you look, the more you see. Much of the story is conveyed through the pictures, in the spirit of a true picture book. Rohmann works in woodcut this time, as KT mentioned, quite a departure from his earlier style. He takes a medium that is inherently static and heavy, and somehow manages to convey movement and lightness in his animals. Rabbit is a lovable, mischievous character, much in the spirit of Shannon's Duck (from Duck on a Bike), Alborough's Fix It Duck, and Farmer Brown's Duck from Giggle Giggle Quack (quite a year for the ducks, wasn't it?) The animals are wonderfully expressive -- check out there faces as Rabbit arranges them in a stack. The bold lines of the woodcut are sufficient, but barely so, to contain the elephant who is crammed in to the frame. When the horizontal frame can stretch no further, Rohmann turns the book on it's side for the dramatic climax. When I returned to the book again after the announcement, I was pleased to find so much to look at!
Robin
Received on Tue 04 Feb 2003 02:21:56 PM CST
