I loved the Little Grey Rabbit stories when I was younger and I still have my childhood copy of Little Grey Rabbit’s Christmas, my edition is from 1978. The stories are now being republished for another generation of younger readers to enjoy and for the older generation to revisit!
The Story: Hare is enjoying the snow while Little Grey Rabbit is at the market buying food for Christmas. When she comes home she’s also bought a sledge. Next day all the animals go sledging before going home to bake and decorate for Christmas. That evening Hare goes sledging again but a mysterious creature scares him and he loses the sledge. On Christmas Day the animals wake up to presents and an invitation to a party. While they are admiring Moldy Warp’s Christmas tree Rat sidles up to Little Grey Rabbit and asks to speak to her…
Little Grey Rabbit lives with Squirrel and Hare in a little house at the end of the wood. Their life is simple, their friends are the woodland animals and simple childhood pleasures fill their days. This story includes all the traditions of Christmas, woodland style, and leaves you with a really warm Christmassy feeling. It’s a snowy Christmas and the animals go sledging before going inside to decorate and bake mince pies. Carol singers come to visit, Moldy Warp’s woodland Christmas tree is beautifully decorated with real candles and the emphasis is on giving presents and being kind to one another. There is humour in the story too, Fuzzypeg, the little hedgehog, makes us laugh, especially when he tries sledging and my daughter thought that the mysterious creature that scared Hare in the dark was hilarious!
The illustrations take us back to a bygone age and Templar have retained the original layout of the book which has a sturdy, embossed cover that looks a lot more Christmassy than my older edition. Each illustration is in a small frame and captures the excitement of Christmas and all its seasonal preparations. I love the picture of Little Grey Rabbit filling the stockings (which is the cover picture on my copy) and my daughter’s favourite is the picture of Fuzzypeg in a snowball.
Little Grey Rabbit’s Christmas is a really gentle story about friends spending Christmas together and with its emphasis on giving and sharing it beautifully encompasses the essence of a traditional Christmas. The book is also the perfect size to fit in a Christmas stocking!
Age Range: 4 +
Author: Alison Uttley / Illustrator: Margaret Tempest
Thank you to Templar for sending us a copy of Little Grey Rabbit’s Christmas. It’s been lovely to share a childhood favourite with my daughter and we look forward to reading the other Little Grey Rabbit stories.
I’ve not heard of these before but they look ever so sweet, thank you for sharing with #ReadWithMe
The Little Grey Rabbit stories were a staple of my childhood 🙂
Little Grey brings back such memories from childhood. Love that they are being brought out in new editions! #readwithme
My Mum still has several of the Little Grey Rabbit books from our childhood. It’s lovely to read them when I visit 🙂
I had this book as a child! Loved it then and must get a copy for my girls #readwithme
I hope your girls enjoy it as much as you did 🙂
I loved reading Little Grey Rabbit as a child. I think I only owned one but luckily there were lots at the library #readwithme
Hopefully the new ones will be in your library again soon 🙂
Oh wow! What a blast from the past. I am sure I can remember these books from years ago. How lovely!
Now you can read them all over again 🙂
I’ve not heard of this one, but it looks so sweet and I like that they’ve kept the more traditional illustrations, too.
All of the illustrations are original, hopefully they will all appeal to today’s children like they did for me 🙂
How cool that they brought it back. I remember reading a copy of a Little Grey Rabbit book from my mum’s childhood, think I still have it somewhere. #triedtested
It is lovely when timeless classics are republished and I still love Margaret Tempest’s gorgeous illustrations.
I don’t think I have come across these before – but they look lovely.
#readwithme
They are lovely and paint a picture of life before television and smartphones 🙂
It’s lovely that you’ve been able to share a childhood favourite. #triedtested
It’s lovely when your child also enjoys reading your childhood favourite 🙂
I don’t remember the Little Grey Rabbit stories – maybe one, but my memory is terrible! How lovely that they’re being republished for our children. I’m always on the hunt for new books x #TriedTested
My memories of some of the books are hazy although they come back when I reread the stories 🙂
I’ve not heard these stories before, they do look very sweet though and how wonderful that they’ve brought them back for a new generation to enjoy.
#readwithme
Maybe I’m showing my age, these stories were a big part of my childhood!
Awww I have not seen these before, they are gorgeous, I love books with that little added something and these look really special
The illustrations are beautiful and the gorgeous red Christmassy cover just makes the book for me 🙂