Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs is a very funny, beautifully illustrated story. Although not an Easter story it is a perfect read for this time of year and has just been published as a board book.
The Story: Rupert Rabbit is lonely so he burrows under the fence into the farmyard and asks if he can live there. Dora Duck tells Rupert that all the farmyard animals have jobs and he’ll need one too. Rupert tries various jobs including scaring birds and crowing like a cockerel but isn’t successful. Dora shows him how to lay eggs but Rupert can’t do that either. That evening Rupert burrows under the fence to bring carrots for the animals’ supper. Next morning when Dora finds Rupert sitting on a carrot she thinks he has laid it himself so she invites him to stay now that he has found a job.
There is lots of humour in Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs. Rupert is so eager to be accepted as a farmyard animal that he mistakenly ‘tidies up’ Dora’s nest and my daughter loves his attempts to crow like the cockerel. However it is Rupert’s first attempt to lay an egg that has her giggling uncontrollably, it isn’t an egg that he lays! The reader and all the animals know that Rupert isn’t laying the carrots (or the other vegetables that he starts to bring), it is only bossy Dora who believes that Rupert is laying them so she allows him to stay.
Rabbit’s Don’t Lay Eggs has a shiny, bright, yellow, tactile cover and we found the title so intriguing that we just had to read the story! Cally Johnson-Isaac’s illustrations are bold and colourful and include a variety of farmyard animals (sheep, a donkey, a cow etc.) who aren’t mentioned in the text. We love the contented expressions on their faces and the fact that the pigs are always spotted with mud! Rupert portrays a wide range of expressions, we particularly love the looks on his face when he is trying to lay an egg!
This story is a great introduction to farmyard animals for babies and toddlers but the storyline and its humour is also very entertaining for an older child (and a parent!). The text is easy to read for a beginner reader and has lots of pictorial clues. It’s a great story for stimulating discussion about the roles each animal has on a farm, what each animal eats and also about how different vegetables grow.
A very amusing story which would make a great Easter present.
Age Range: 3 +
Author: Paula Metcalf / Illustrator: Cally Johnson-Isaacs
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