Rabbit & Squirrel: A Tale of War and Peas
Though Rabbit and Squirrel are both avid gardeners and next-door neighbors, they are not friends. They never share gardening tips or produce, and they never even speak to each other. One fateful day something horrible happens: Rabbit wakes up and finds her garden has been ravaged! She blames Squirrel. The next day, when Squirrel's garden has been stripped of some of his peas and tomatoes, he blames Rabbit and throws a rotten tomato at her house. Then, when all of the produce disappears, he flushes her out of her house with a hose. That is when the true culprit—a very large human gardener—arrives on the scene and chases both Rabbit and Squirrel into the dark woods. Even though they are in the woods together, they refuse to abandon their battle. The book ends with the optimistic line, "One of these days, they'll grow tired of fighting. And then, hopefully, they'll learn to grow something new." Children will enjoy the way illustrator Scott Magoon's cartoonish images reveal the human hand plucking produce from the animals' gardens, giving them information unknown to Rabbit and Squirrel. While careful listeners will observe that though Rabbit was not the first one to raid squirrel's garden, she did not hesitate to take what was left in retaliation for his first attack on her house. A lighthearted look at conflict, this story provides numerous opportunities to discuss the best methods of coping with a variety of circumstances, from being a good neighbor to avoiding jumping to conclusions. It is also an unusual addition to class units on farms and gardens. Reviewer: Keri Collins Lewis  (Children's Literature)--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.