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Summary: New Folks a Comin'
Review: One great book I've read is Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson. It contains advernture, expression, and animals. There's a skunk (who eats garbage), a red buck, a fox, a mole, fieldmice, a cat, dogs, rabbits, and new Folks. The new Folks don't set out traps, poisons,etc., but grow extra fruits and vegetables for the animals! The new Folks even put up a sign that reads 'Please Drive Slowly on Account of Small Animals'.(Talk about nice!) There are food problems,tragedies, and other plots (such as the main character,Little Georgie, being hit by a car, will he survive?). I enjoyed this book because the plots weren't too serious and they weren't difficult to figure out. If you like stories with happy endings, or stories with animals, you will enjoy this book!
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Summary: This book was very interesting and exciting.
Review: Rabbit Hill is a fiction book about a family of many rabbits and their animal friends. The rabbit's names are Little Georgie, Mama, Papa, and Little Georgie's little brothers and sisters. Unfortunatly the rabbits and the other animals live in the backyard of people who are not kind to animals. The people put guns and gases down the animal's dens. Finally, the word is spread that new folks are coming. Every animal is happy except Mama, who is still nervous. To find out if Mama ever does trust the new folks, and if the new folks are nice to all the animals, you should read the book.
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Summary: Sadie's Stuff
Review: Rabbit Hill is a fun and exciting book. Little Georgie lives in his burrow under the Hill with Mother, Father, and Uncle Analdas in the past. Bad Times have settled over the Hill, because there hasn't been good Folks living there for a long time. How everyone wishes that good Folks would come and have a big garden, a good lawn, and fields of tender grain! One day, Little Georgie comes racing up the hill with news! There are new Folks coming! Everyone is excited but worried, too. Will the new Folks be good or bad? One day, the new Folk's car and moving van comes. They are here! They are planning a new garden too, but it's not done yet. Therefore, one night, Little Georgie has to cross the Black Road to get food. As soon as he gets to the middle, he gets run over. Mother, Father, and Uncle Analdas come running! However, the new Folks get to him first. Everyone is worried that the new Folks are torturing him! I recommend this book to people of all ages. It is an interesting, lovable, and touching story.
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Summary: Animals Everywhere
Review: Rabbit Hill is a great book for animal lovers, because it involves animals. A little rabbit finds out that new prople are moving into a run down house on the hill. When they move in everything starts to happen. The people are very kind to the animals, and don't let anything happen to them. If the animals get hurt, the people take them in. And, well, you go find out the best part by going and reading it now!
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Summary: Didn't fly as a read-aloud story
Review: Rabbit Hill is a pleasant enough story, but it didn't hold the attention of my boys (ages 5 and 7) as well as many other chapter books that I have read to them. Some of the characters are very verbose, especially Father Rabbit, who is infamous for giving long, overly formal speeches about everything. Maybe a somewhat older child wouldn't mind reading through those dialogues, but as I was reading it aloud, I kept wondering, "Are the kids as anxious as I am for this bunny to get to the point?!?" Sometimes I think the vocabulary and style of writing interfered with my children understanding what was otherwise a very sweet story whose message was very appropriate for young children.The other thing that I didn't like was toward the end of the story, after Georgie gets hit by a car and The Folks take him into their house. Uncle Analdas gets very suspicious and tries to convince all the other animals that The Folks are holding Georgie hostage and will torture him if the animals eat anything from the garden. The Folks had already done many kind things for the animals, including caring for a mouse that almost drowned in a rainbarrel. So Uncle Analdas' hate-mongering didn't seem to fit well into the story. Maybe it was intended to add some drama, but to me it was just some unnecessary ugliness. A librarian recomended this book for us, but I think it would be better for a child who is around 9 years old. The characters are likeable enough and the story, while a bit predictable, has a gentle, positive message.
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Summary: This book was really awesome.
Review: The book Rabbit Hill was good. At the beginning it was rather confusing for me. But when I got in the middle of the book it all started to click and I found it was really interesting. At the end the people do something to bring out your true emotions. I would recommend this book to any animal lover or animal caregiver.
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Summary: Saw a rabbit hopping there, knocking on my door
Review: The wide range of Newbery Award winning books never ceases to amaze me. Having finished the intense and revolutionary (ho ho) "Johnny Tremain" I moved onto the next winner in line. This turned out to be "Rabbit Hill" by the incomparable Robert Lawson. Having already garnered an award for the Newbery winning "Adam of the Road", (a book he did not write himself) as well as a Caldecott for the misguided, "They Were Strong and Good", Lawson finally goes whole hog and gets a Newbery for a book he both wrote AND illustrated. "Rabbit Hill" is a charming little tale about a group of small animals of the wild and the farmland they love.
As the book opens, things have been going poorly for the little animals living by a deserted farmland. The house has been empty for years, letting the fields and gardens go to pot in the meantime. Without a steady supply of food, animals are leaving their homes in the hopes of doing better elsewhere. Suddenly gossip begins, suggesting that perhaps the house will be occupied by a new family soon. The chant of "New Folks coming" is taken up by everyone from the fieldmice to the gray fox to our hero Little Georgie the rabbit. Little Georgie is particularly boisterous in his joy, going so far as to fetch his family's Great Uncle Analdus in the hopes that soon there will be plenty of food for all. When the family moving into the house arrives everything seems to be perfect. That is, until a tragic night involving Little Georgie, a dark road, and an oncoming vehicle.
The book seems to have a bit of difficulty figuring out how to characterize the animals in it. On the one hand they're just like any woodland creatures you might find. They rely on storing food for the winter months ahead. They understand the dangers inherent in poisons, cars, traps, dogs, cats, etc. They live in the woods and have the kinds of concerns any animal might have. On the other hand, they seem to own a lot of household equipment (rakes, lunch sacks, rocking chairs, framed prints, etc.). They speak regularly, sometimes to humans. There's even some mention of Willie the Fieldmouse easing his belt a hole or two after copious eating (though the accompanying illustrations make it very clear that the animals do not wear clothing). All in all, this book belongs squarely in the world of Beatrix Potter, more than anything else. It's an odd nebulous world where animals have distinctly human characteristics, yet their relationships to humans and predators remain intact.
As for the story itself, it's very sweet and simple. I don't think you'll find yourself especially blown away by anything it has to say. It doesn't, for example, have the sly wit of "Wind in the Willows" or the political bent of books like, "Watership Down". The story does say one or two good things about prejudice and hatred, but only briefly and at the end. There's also an oblique reference to World War II (the book was originally published in 1944) but that's as trapped in time as it gets. Instead, the book has a timeless quality to it. Should you wish to read it to your kids, I recommend pairing it with the more recent and delightful "Poppy" by Avi. The two would go particularly well together, I think.
"Rabbit Hill" may not strike some as particularly important, but I am certain that there are millions of adults out there with fond memories of Little Georgie's Southern gentleman father (prone to sentences that includes phrases like, "That is precisely the subject on which I wished to consult you"), his curmudgeonly uncle (who avoids kohl-rabi because he doesn't hold with "foreign vittles"), and his perpetually worried mama. The book has a simple lighthearted charm that I'm certain will engross children even today. For some great bedtime reading involving fluffy characters (drawn, I needn't add, expertly by Lawson's steady hand), "Rabbit Hill"'s a good pick. Fun and frolicsome. Frolicsome and fun.
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Summary: This book is good!
Review: This book is alright but it could be improved. The author could have told more at the end to really finish it up good. The book is about a group of animals that live on a hill in someone's yard. They are worried because a new family is moving into the house and they are afraid they will hurt the animals. Read the book if you would like to know what happens.
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Summary: Nostalgia for Country Creatures
Review: This is a refreshing return to the innocent 40's of children's literature, when Animals talk and behave just like people. The Hill (somewhere in CT) is abuzz with excitement and anticipation when rumors race through field and burrow that--finally--new Folks are coming! There will be owners in residence at the old, neglected farmhouse. Times have indeed been hard for the little animals, who are reduced to a meagre existence and near starvation during bitter winters--merely scavenging off the land in its natural state. High Time there were real Folks in the house once more, planting and canning! Yet there are potential dangers from the unknown newcomers as well: dogs, cats, Boys, poisons, traps, fences, etc. Most people are determined to protect their produce and flowers from the very creatures who cherish their rights to help themselves. Robert Lawson presents young readers with a wide cast of characters, ranging in size from mice to a buck. All the animals speak and understand English, which helps in communciation between species, but pales before the astonishing actions of the new Folks, who have to prove either their value or their threat to the Hill society. Communal democracy is practiced at the annual ritual called Dividing Night, when each family is allotted a certain portion of the vegetable garden for their private use. If and When the new Folks actuallly plow, plant and tend it properly. Father Rabbit is a Southern gentleman who speaks in elegant terms while boring everyone with his tales of the Blue Grass country. Mother Rabbit proves a stereotypical 40's mom, and Uncle Analdas is the irrascible, grumbling, hot-tempered grouchy relative. Little Willie Fieldmouse is the obliging spy for the community, the eyes for the Mole and the ears for the Hill, as he sits atop a rainbarrel and eavesdrops on the Folks. The protagonist is Georgie, the clever and likeable son who captures our interest; he is a bit cocky with his knowledge and skills, but can be caught off guard when distracted by artistic inspiration. He does accomplish a tremendous feat of which his father and uncle proudly boast.
But will these new Folks bring peace and prosperity or deadly hazards to the Hill? The anxious Animals must wait and see through 12 charming chapters of text with pen and ink sketches also by the author. Having read his famous books in elementary school (EDWARD, HOPPY AND JOE and THE TOUGH WINTER) I was plasantly surprised to discover their enduring charm. For children of all ages, with a quiet theme of showing compassion toward the smaller, wild animals. Yes, Gardens and Cirtters can Coexist!
Rating: 
Summary: Not that great
Review: This is one of those books that looks okay but really stinks. It has basically a very small plot and no conflict that isn't resolved before the end of the chapter. It's written like some enviromentalist was trying for a utopia (and this was before the rise of the enviromentalists, too) The only thing that saves it from a one star is that it is very well written. Pity it has such a bad plot, it had the makings to be a great book.
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