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Rabbit & Squirrel: A Tale of War and Peas
Rabbit loves her garden. Squirrel loves his. But then their delicious vegetables begin disappearing. And they have only each other to blame . . . or do they?
Well, Rabbit and Squirrel don't pause to consider any other possibilities. And so, for them, there's only one WAR!
From the team that hatched the award-winning Ugly Fish , here is a hilarious cautionary tale about how jumping to conclusions can turn minor misunderstandings into major meltdowns.
Well, Rabbit and Squirrel don't pause to consider any other possibilities. And so, for them, there's only one WAR!
From the team that hatched the award-winning Ugly Fish , here is a hilarious cautionary tale about how jumping to conclusions can turn minor misunderstandings into major meltdowns.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2008
5 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Kara LaReau
46 books102 followersKara LaReau was born and raised in Connecticut. She received her Masters in Fine Arts in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts and later worked as an editor at Candlewick Press and at Scholastic Press. Among other celebrated titles, she edited Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and the Mercy Watson series. She is the author of picture books such as UGLY FISH, illustrated by Scott Magoon, Baby Clown, illustrated by Matthew Cordell, and Goodnight Little Monsters, illustrated by Brian Won; chapter book series Witchycakes, illustrated by Ariane Moreira and The Infamous Ratsos, illustrated by Matt Myers; and middle-grade trilogies The ZomBert Chronicles, illustrated by Ryan Andrews, and The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters, illustrated by Jen Hill. Kara lives in Providence, Rhode Island with her husband and daughter and their cats.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
April 10, 2010
The illustrations are very dark and the storyline really doesn't play well with preschool audiences so to be honest, I really don't see this book being very useful for storytelling. The theme of the book focuses on a rabbit and squirrel that have lived side by side for years yet never talked to each other. When they start to find their gardens being destroyed, they automatically start blaming the other. Without even trying to find out the facts, they start warring. Even when they discover the real reason the gardens are dissapearing, they're hatred for each other still keeps them from helping each other. A nice storyline, but just not showcased well. Too dark for my taste.
September 16, 2009
Yuck. Illustrations are too dark. Storyline is no fun. Nothing gets resolved and the ending is just plain icky. I didn't like it at all, and would certainly never use it for a storytime. Bleah...
March 10, 2008
I think that it’s fair to say that rabbits in gardens have certainly gotten their picture book due. Whether it’s Peter Rabbit escaping a sieve, a little Tops and Bottoms action, or even those Muncha Muncha Muncha bunnies clicking their heels, kids have no difficulty associating rabbits with garden woes. Squirrels, on the other hand, don’t get the proper amount of attention they’re warranted. Man, when I was growing up rabbits were somewhat bad but squirrels? Squirrels were worse. Your apple trees and strawberry plants wouldn’t yield BUPKISS when a squirrel was around. Credit author Kara LaReau for acknowledging that squirrels deserve to be classified as garden pests. Her book Rabbit and Squirrel teams her up with Ugly Fish partner-in-crime Scott Magoon and together they’ve come up with a book that deserves to appear amongst your garden storytime readaloud staples. Though it indulges the pair’s taste for unexpected endings, this one’s definitely their best product yet.
Once there was a rabbit (named Rabbit) and a squirrel (named Squirrel, naturally) that each tended delicious gardens. One day the Rabbit woke up to find her goodies plundered, so naturally she blamed (and threatened) the Squirrel. The next day the Squirrel found HIS goodies gone so he blamed (and threatened) the Rabbit back. Soon the Rabbit was taking the Squirrel’s peas and tomatoes and the Squirrel was turning his hose onto the insides of the Rabbit’s house when in the midst of their squabble was a gigantic human gardener, demanding to know who was ruining her garden! Sharp-eyed readers will have noticed human hands plucking the veggies throughout the tale, after all. Chased away from their homes, Rabbit and Squirrel high tail it to the woods where they continue to bicker. “One of these days, they’ll grow tired of fighting. And then, hopefully, they’ll learn to grow something new.”
I’ll level with you here. Did you ever read the previous LaReau/Magoon pairing Ugly Fish? I just wasn’t a fan. Some picture books where the hero gets eaten work beautifully. Books like I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean. Good stuff. Something about Ugly Fish just turned me off, though. It wasn’t the fact that the hero gets eaten at the end. I can deal with that. But Magoon has an elastic style that was too thin-lined and shaky for me with that book. Rabbit and Squirrel is different. Now the lines are thicker and the colors dark and rich. What’s more, LaReau has taken her penchant for unusual storytelling and fitted it to “war and peas”. And you could probably apply this story directly to some historical incident if you were so inclined (as I’ve no doubt some high school history teacher will soon do). It would have to be a situation in which two groups went to war when their troubles really sprang from a malevolent third party. Think about it, won’t you?
Let’s go back to Scott Magoon’s art, though. I have to say that for a guy who does his work “digitally” he’s got the panache of the hand-illustrated-only types. There are some textures in this book that I was particularly taken with. The pages sometimes have the visual consistency of some kind of woven material. Burlap, maybe? It’s hard to say. Then on top of this you’ll get a variety of patterns, often all overlapping in the course of a single page. The illustration of squirrel watering “his” tomatoes is set against a light floral pattern so subtle that you might miss it if you didn’t stare intently at it. The ground is a series of undulating brown lines, and the ladder looks distinctly wood like.
I was also fairly fond of the expressions Magoon employs here. When Rabbit first finds that lettuce and carrots have been removed, she gets this squinty eyed look of creeping suspicion that is, for me, my favorite picture in the book. It’s a good artist that can capture an expression you recognize but couldn’t have named prior to seeing their picture of it. Of course, I did have one problem with the pictures in the book. It’s small but once I noticed it I had a hard time ignoring it. Take a look at Squirrel. Take a long hard look. Notice how there are teeth coming off of his nose? Okay, now look and see where his mouth is. AUUUGH! Mutant squirrel!
Mutant squirrels aside, lets consider Kara LaReau’s contributions here. This here is a good bit of storytelling. LaReau employs all the descriptive adjectives in her arsenal to describe the crimes these animals face. “Someone had pulled up her crunchiest carrots. Someone had removed her leafiest lettuce.” As the tensions escalate and the two animals come close to blows, I liked that they were interrupted with the line, “Just as they were thinking of worse things to do to each other . . .” It won’t escape the child reader’s notice either that while Rabbit calls Squirrel a pest and Squirrel calls Rabbit a pest, when the Gardener calls them both pests, she’s utilizing the proper use of the word.
As for the story itself, it’s rare to find a book where there isn’t a happy ending. Normally, this kind of story would end with the Gardener chasing away our heroes and with the two of them realizing their mistakes. Instead, they’re STILL at each other’s throats. Though Mr. Magoon shows a potential resolutions that will “hopefully” someday occur, the very sweetness and light look of the last image in this bok is essentially unbelievable. So child readers will be able to see that while it is in the best interests of Rabbit and Squirrel to cooperate, the likelihood of two such stuck-in-their-ways animals of coming to terms with one another is slim to none. That’s a complicated lesson, and one that may actually come in useful in the future.
LaReau and Magoon together wield the element of surprise as their secret weapon. Pick up a picture book by the two of them and you never know WHERE the story’s gonna go. Rabbit and Squirrel shows that these kids work best when they can upset conventions without breaking the back of the story at hand. If you’ve had your fill of garden pest picture books and you feel like you want a break, just give this book a chance before you throw in the trowel. Sometimes war is just a series of miscommunications and sometimes the two parties are communicating perfectly. This book gives it to you both ways. Smart stuff that’s easy on the eyes.
Ages 4-8.
Once there was a rabbit (named Rabbit) and a squirrel (named Squirrel, naturally) that each tended delicious gardens. One day the Rabbit woke up to find her goodies plundered, so naturally she blamed (and threatened) the Squirrel. The next day the Squirrel found HIS goodies gone so he blamed (and threatened) the Rabbit back. Soon the Rabbit was taking the Squirrel’s peas and tomatoes and the Squirrel was turning his hose onto the insides of the Rabbit’s house when in the midst of their squabble was a gigantic human gardener, demanding to know who was ruining her garden! Sharp-eyed readers will have noticed human hands plucking the veggies throughout the tale, after all. Chased away from their homes, Rabbit and Squirrel high tail it to the woods where they continue to bicker. “One of these days, they’ll grow tired of fighting. And then, hopefully, they’ll learn to grow something new.”
I’ll level with you here. Did you ever read the previous LaReau/Magoon pairing Ugly Fish? I just wasn’t a fan. Some picture books where the hero gets eaten work beautifully. Books like I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean. Good stuff. Something about Ugly Fish just turned me off, though. It wasn’t the fact that the hero gets eaten at the end. I can deal with that. But Magoon has an elastic style that was too thin-lined and shaky for me with that book. Rabbit and Squirrel is different. Now the lines are thicker and the colors dark and rich. What’s more, LaReau has taken her penchant for unusual storytelling and fitted it to “war and peas”. And you could probably apply this story directly to some historical incident if you were so inclined (as I’ve no doubt some high school history teacher will soon do). It would have to be a situation in which two groups went to war when their troubles really sprang from a malevolent third party. Think about it, won’t you?
Let’s go back to Scott Magoon’s art, though. I have to say that for a guy who does his work “digitally” he’s got the panache of the hand-illustrated-only types. There are some textures in this book that I was particularly taken with. The pages sometimes have the visual consistency of some kind of woven material. Burlap, maybe? It’s hard to say. Then on top of this you’ll get a variety of patterns, often all overlapping in the course of a single page. The illustration of squirrel watering “his” tomatoes is set against a light floral pattern so subtle that you might miss it if you didn’t stare intently at it. The ground is a series of undulating brown lines, and the ladder looks distinctly wood like.
I was also fairly fond of the expressions Magoon employs here. When Rabbit first finds that lettuce and carrots have been removed, she gets this squinty eyed look of creeping suspicion that is, for me, my favorite picture in the book. It’s a good artist that can capture an expression you recognize but couldn’t have named prior to seeing their picture of it. Of course, I did have one problem with the pictures in the book. It’s small but once I noticed it I had a hard time ignoring it. Take a look at Squirrel. Take a long hard look. Notice how there are teeth coming off of his nose? Okay, now look and see where his mouth is. AUUUGH! Mutant squirrel!
Mutant squirrels aside, lets consider Kara LaReau’s contributions here. This here is a good bit of storytelling. LaReau employs all the descriptive adjectives in her arsenal to describe the crimes these animals face. “Someone had pulled up her crunchiest carrots. Someone had removed her leafiest lettuce.” As the tensions escalate and the two animals come close to blows, I liked that they were interrupted with the line, “Just as they were thinking of worse things to do to each other . . .” It won’t escape the child reader’s notice either that while Rabbit calls Squirrel a pest and Squirrel calls Rabbit a pest, when the Gardener calls them both pests, she’s utilizing the proper use of the word.
As for the story itself, it’s rare to find a book where there isn’t a happy ending. Normally, this kind of story would end with the Gardener chasing away our heroes and with the two of them realizing their mistakes. Instead, they’re STILL at each other’s throats. Though Mr. Magoon shows a potential resolutions that will “hopefully” someday occur, the very sweetness and light look of the last image in this bok is essentially unbelievable. So child readers will be able to see that while it is in the best interests of Rabbit and Squirrel to cooperate, the likelihood of two such stuck-in-their-ways animals of coming to terms with one another is slim to none. That’s a complicated lesson, and one that may actually come in useful in the future.
LaReau and Magoon together wield the element of surprise as their secret weapon. Pick up a picture book by the two of them and you never know WHERE the story’s gonna go. Rabbit and Squirrel shows that these kids work best when they can upset conventions without breaking the back of the story at hand. If you’ve had your fill of garden pest picture books and you feel like you want a break, just give this book a chance before you throw in the trowel. Sometimes war is just a series of miscommunications and sometimes the two parties are communicating perfectly. This book gives it to you both ways. Smart stuff that’s easy on the eyes.
Ages 4-8.
April 2, 2024
The illustrations by Scott Magoon are adorable. This is my favorite thing about the picture book Rabbit and Squirrel A Tale of War and Peas by Kara LaReau. I really wanted to love this book but the animal characters: Rabbit and Squirrel loved gardening but never tried to share their produce. They were quick to judge each other and when the farmer kicked them out of their garden, they continued to blame each other.
The thought of them getting sick of blaming each other and growing a garden together is not enough for me. I realize this is a fiction book but want a better moral to the story, not just for me but for the children that would be inspired by this book. I will be choosing a different book for story time at my house.
The thought of them getting sick of blaming each other and growing a garden together is not enough for me. I realize this is a fiction book but want a better moral to the story, not just for me but for the children that would be inspired by this book. I will be choosing a different book for story time at my house.
November 24, 2019
The story is different, but it's worth probably only one read. It gives exposition fast and has conflict throughout, but it doesn't resolve the conflict.
The illustrations are dark enough to fit the tone of the story, and that's the main benefit.
I haven't read War and Peace, but the ending strikes me as an interpretation of how the novel ended. Does it suddenly end that way? Yes. But kudos to it being different.
The illustrations are dark enough to fit the tone of the story, and that's the main benefit.
I haven't read War and Peace, but the ending strikes me as an interpretation of how the novel ended. Does it suddenly end that way? Yes. But kudos to it being different.
July 10, 2018
This book has such potential, but while my son really likes it, the last part of the story is just goofed up.
For some reason, the story ends so awkwardly. It's as if they literally skipped a page or two during printing. Kinda like the book in the movie Elf.
It honestly would probably be 5 stars for me if the ending wasn't so botched.
For some reason, the story ends so awkwardly. It's as if they literally skipped a page or two during printing. Kinda like the book in the movie Elf.
It honestly would probably be 5 stars for me if the ending wasn't so botched.
January 26, 2017
Despite other opinions, I actually liked the illustrations. But the story? WHAT happened with the ending? It's like the author was told they had one page left and just stopped the story... very strange.
June 24, 2017
Found at the library book sale and thought the title was fun. The story is ok but nothing exceptional and the illustrations less so. Oh well, you win some and you loose some rummaging through thousands of children's books.
March 27, 2018
Squirrel and rabbit fight over who messed up their garden, but it turned out there was a third, much larger, creature that claimed both gardens as his. The rabbit and squirrel get chased away into the forest, and they still fight to this day. Maybe someday they will stop.
May 10, 2017
Clever!
November 29, 2017
A squirrel and a rabbit fight over whose ruining their gardens. preschool and up
January 23, 2018
Illustrations and text do not pair well. I wish the reconciliation was a drawn out more rather than hinted at.
March 22, 2018
Might be fun to pair with Jan Thomas' THERE'S A PEST IN THE GARDEN.
April 23, 2019
Silly book, fun voices, great for storytime. Mediocre ending though, kind of leaves it flat.
February 16, 2020
Má to síce v sebe dobrú pointu, ale je to v podstate extrémne negatívna kniha skrytá za humor.
June 5, 2012
My niece, nephew, and I have read and enjoyed Ugly Fish and Otto: The Boy Who Loved Cars by Kara LaReau, so I thought this book would probably be entertaining.
My niece and I had the same immediate aversion to the pictures in this book, which was a little surprising to me, since they were done by Scott Magoon, who illustrated several books that we loved the illustrations in. Frankly, Rabbit, and especially Squirrel, are well, a little freaky looking. I think my first response was, "Ew. That's kind of gross." My niece's response was, "Ugh. Why do they look all... Halloween-y?" Yeah, great question, because it would be a lot easier to focus on the message in this story if the main characters weren't so distractingly hideous.
As for that message, well, I'm not really sure what it was. It's bad to fight, but maybe someday the people who fight will get over themselves? It's bad to fight, but in war there are no easy answers? It's bad to fight, but we don't know if there will ever be a happy ending? War is stupid--can't we all just get along? All of that? I guess this leaves the door open for discussion about war, which is the only reason I'm giving this book two stars and not one. The book has lots of potential to be a discussion starter, but only if you and the kids can get past that freakish Rabbit and Squirrel. Obviously, my niece and I couldn't.
My niece and I had the same immediate aversion to the pictures in this book, which was a little surprising to me, since they were done by Scott Magoon, who illustrated several books that we loved the illustrations in. Frankly, Rabbit, and especially Squirrel, are well, a little freaky looking. I think my first response was, "Ew. That's kind of gross." My niece's response was, "Ugh. Why do they look all... Halloween-y?" Yeah, great question, because it would be a lot easier to focus on the message in this story if the main characters weren't so distractingly hideous.
As for that message, well, I'm not really sure what it was. It's bad to fight, but maybe someday the people who fight will get over themselves? It's bad to fight, but in war there are no easy answers? It's bad to fight, but we don't know if there will ever be a happy ending? War is stupid--can't we all just get along? All of that? I guess this leaves the door open for discussion about war, which is the only reason I'm giving this book two stars and not one. The book has lots of potential to be a discussion starter, but only if you and the kids can get past that freakish Rabbit and Squirrel. Obviously, my niece and I couldn't.
December 2, 2012
This book is very helpful to read to the children to learn morals. The rabbit was angry that someone came to take his lettuce that he had planted in the garden. He went to face the squirrel, but the squirrel didn't know anything. The next day the squirrel blame the rabbit for taking his tomatoes. They both didn't realize that the owner of the garden was a human. This owner was angry and called them pest.
Learning Experience: The teacher will talk to the children about good-deeds. The children will paint and stickers on the outside of the jar. The teacher send a letter home of parent that her class is going to help St. Jude Children, so a child can have a speacial Christmas. The chilren will draw a tree in construction paper and take it home every apple he/she paste 20 nickels. The second week the children will draw a jelly fish and the children will paste 10 dimes on the jelly fish. The third week the chilren will draw kite with four strings on the kite pasting 4 quarters. Every week the children will join the small group to discussion about their good-deeds they have done. How did it make an impact in their lives.
Learning Experience: The teacher will talk to the children about good-deeds. The children will paint and stickers on the outside of the jar. The teacher send a letter home of parent that her class is going to help St. Jude Children, so a child can have a speacial Christmas. The chilren will draw a tree in construction paper and take it home every apple he/she paste 20 nickels. The second week the children will draw a jelly fish and the children will paste 10 dimes on the jelly fish. The third week the chilren will draw kite with four strings on the kite pasting 4 quarters. Every week the children will join the small group to discussion about their good-deeds they have done. How did it make an impact in their lives.
July 21, 2015
A fiction story of two gardeners, Rabbit and Squirrel. They live right across from each other and have never said "hi" or offered some of their vegetables to one another. One day, Rabbit wakes up to her garden being picked and thinks Squirrel came over and took her vegetables (but he didn't), and confronts him for the first time. The next day, Squirrel wakes up to find his garden picked and storms over to Rabbit's house and tell her war has sprung between them (but Rabbit didn't pick Squirrels Garden either). Find out who picks the both of their garden. Readers will be able to see how false accusations can harm others and how holding a grudge does no good either. I would use this book to teach about friendships, false accusations, and letting go of grudges.
April 17, 2009
Rabbit and Squirrel both have gardens right next to each other. They grow different things in their gardens but not only do they not share they do not even talk to one another, until one day something terrible happens to rabbits garden. So he blames squirrel,then the next day something happens to squirrels garden and he knows just who to blame. Suddenly as they are laying blame on one another someone very large comes by and tells them to scat they are pests and to go away. So they runaway into the woods as fast as they can. Do they still balme each other? Read and find out.
Cute book to about being a good neighbor or friend.
Cute book to about being a good neighbor or friend.
November 8, 2013
It started off good--I liked the idea of neighbors who get angry with each other and start escalating the conflict. I think it's something children could understand. But, when the human gardener enters the scene... I guess I expected some sort of shift in attitude.
Instead, Rabbit and Squirrel continue to feud. And there's no real resolution.
So, the story felt kind of incomplete. And, it didn't offer children the opportunity to see how conflicts might be resolved. Which, for the target audience is really important.
Instead, Rabbit and Squirrel continue to feud. And there's no real resolution.
So, the story felt kind of incomplete. And, it didn't offer children the opportunity to see how conflicts might be resolved. Which, for the target audience is really important.
March 1, 2015
There once was a rabbit who had a lovely garden of letace and carrots.
There once was a squirrel who had a lovely garden of peas and tomatoes.
Never did they speak UNTIL
One day someone destroyed their hard work.
Now, the rabbit blamed the squirrel and the squirrel blamed the rabbit.
And, then, a large, booming voice of the gardener shouted "Get Out of Here You Pests!"
This is a charming tale with a serious message regarding the ownership of the earth.
There once was a squirrel who had a lovely garden of peas and tomatoes.
Never did they speak UNTIL
One day someone destroyed their hard work.
Now, the rabbit blamed the squirrel and the squirrel blamed the rabbit.
And, then, a large, booming voice of the gardener shouted "Get Out of Here You Pests!"
This is a charming tale with a serious message regarding the ownership of the earth.
November 11, 2008
Rabbit and Squirrel are neighbors who have never spoken to one another. When things start going wrong with their gardens, they blame each other on instinct. Though the end left me wanting, it's a cute story about unreasonable disagreements. The pictures are charming and I was also impressed with the vocabulary (ex. zeal).
June 24, 2014
A great book for teaching kids about how wars start. People are never really fighting for the reasons they think they are, in war.
Rabbit and squirrel start a war because they think the other wrecked their garden but it was really the gardener who did it but they continue fighting because they can't see the truth.
Great book.
Rabbit and squirrel start a war because they think the other wrecked their garden but it was really the gardener who did it but they continue fighting because they can't see the truth.
Great book.
August 18, 2016
So, a lot of imagination went into to naming the squirrel and rabbit...as their names are Rabbit and Squirrel.... An interesting book about fighting and blame and gardens, and things of that nature. Interesting concept but I am not in love with the attempt or pictures..makes me want a fresh tomato though......
July 2, 2008
Rabbit and Squirrel have their own gardens and don't talk to each other but when veggies start to go missing, they turn on each other even when they discover that a human took their food. Good character ed book about peace and friendship and talking through conflict.
April 16, 2009
They both think the other is stealing from the garden but..... I am not going to give you a spoiler. Great springtime book and fun illustrations. I hope no one steals out of my garden this year.... Ages 5+
November 12, 2009
Rabbit and Squirrel are blaming each other for destroying their garden...when all along neither of them is to blame. Even though they find out who the true culprit is, they continue to blame each other. So, until they learn to stop fighting with each other, there will be no 'peas' in the garden.
June 9, 2012
Rabbit and Squirrel are fighting because they assume that each is destroying the other's garden. If they stopped to talk a little bit, there would be more peas and less war. Great story but I'm not a big fan of the illustrations.
May 20, 2008
A cute little story with a moral lesson somewhere in there, too. Everyone would rather have peas than war...right?
June 23, 2008
I read this in the store, and it was fantastic.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews