''Rabbit Hill'' is a children's novel by Robert Lawson that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

in 1945. In 1954 he wrote a sequel, ''The Tough Winter''.

Plot introduction

The story takes place in the countryside near

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...

. The animal inhabitants are suffering as the house nearby has been abandoned for several years and the untended garden, the animals' source of food, has withered to nothing. "New Folks" then move into the house: Are they hunters, or friendly gardeners who will provide for the animals?

Literary significance and criticism

The book was written at the end of World War II when racial integration and providing aid to the war torn countries of Europe were on everyone's minds. When reading the story with those in mind, the moral intent becomes clear. Suspicion, fear, and hate - personified in the elderly rabbit Uncle Ananias, and led by him when Georgie is injured and taken into the House - lead to the ravaging of the House's garden and grounds by his family and their friends. In a short while, Georgie is released - healed - and can tell and show his family and friends that the New People have no intent of hurting them, and have made a place where they may all always find food and water, overseen by a statue of

Saint Francis St. Francis or Saint Francis may refer to: Roman Catholic saints *Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), Italian founder of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) *Francis of Paola (1416–1507), Italian (Calabrian) founder of the Order of the Minims * ...

and the inscription "There Is Enough For All " Printings of the book beginning in the 1970s and continuing today have edited the character Sulphronia, the new occupants' cook. This was done because she was originally depicted as an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

.Peterson, Linda Kauffman; and Marilyn Leathers Solt. ''Newbery and Caldecott Medal and Honor Books, an Annotated Bibliography'', G.K. Hall & Co., 1982.

Film and television

''Little Georgie of Rabbit Hill'' was a 1967 television adaptation for '' NBC Children's Theatre''.

References

1944 American novels 1944 children's books American children's novels Newbery Medal–winning works American novels adapted into television shows Books about rabbits and hares Novels set in Connecticut Westport, Connecticut Viking Press books {{1940s-child-novel-stub