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Summary
Summary
Good friends learn a small but important lesson
Owl and Rabbit are good friends and live in two small houses next to each other. They are perfectly happy . . . until Rabbit's garden gets in the way of Owl's view. So Owl builds his house a little taller. Only that blocks the sun from Rabbit's vegetables. So Rabbit builds his house taller. And soon it's a house-building frenzy and the two now not-so-good friends have the two tallest houses in the world!
All it takes is a gust of wind to remind them that maybe living smaller and together is a much better way to remain friends.
The creator of Meet Me at the Moon has delivered another wonderful animal fable for today's world.
Author Notes
Gianna Marino spent her early years galloping horses through Golden Gate Park and writing stories of her adventures. She has traveled throughout the world and now lives in Northern California, where she writes and illustrates full time. Visit Gianna at giannamarino.com.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Owl and Rabbit live side by side in two small huts. Rabbit tends to his vegetable garden and Owl perches on the roof, gazing at the forest. Trouble starts when Rabbit's plants grow too tall, blocking Owl's vista. Angry Owl makes his abode taller, Rabbit follows suit, and a construction race ensues. When the houses become impossibly sky-high, cartoonishly looming over continents, a formidable wind blows them down. With their dwellings in ruins, the former friends wisely decide that it is much better to join forces and build one small house, where they settle in harmony. Laid out in spreads, the illustrations feature impeccably detailed pencil drawings combined with sumptuously colored gouache backgrounds. The animals are full of heartfelt emotions, from anger and frustration to happy contentment. Marino interjects a few humorous details throughout the story-the expressions of grumpy Owl getting watered by Rabbit or flying with a squashed tomato on his head are priceless. This story about friendship and togetherness contains a great lesson without being didactic or moralizing and should be welcome in most collections.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Marino's (Meet Me at the Moon) gouache and pencil spreads feature sun-baked color, lots of movement, and wide Southwestern vistas; they provide most of the story's kick. Rabbit's flat-topped brick house looks like a small pueblo, while his neighbor Owl's dwelling is an intricately woven covered nest. The two animals have been friends for ages, but now there's a conflict: "Rabbit!" cries Owl. "Your garden is growing too tall. I can't see the forest!" Owl adds another story to his dwelling while "Rabbit watched and chittered his teeth." Rabbit retaliates, building still higher, and they're off, each outdoing the other until a spread shows two impossibly tall structures teetering far above Earth's surface, the rabbit and owl barely hanging on at the very top. Wind blows the houses from side to side, and vegetables and twigs go flying; fortunately, although the animals are falling from miles up, both land safely--and, of course, discover that cooperation is better than competition. It's a story with universal appeal and a very particular sense of place. Ages 3-5. Agent: Deborah Warren, East West Literary Agency. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Hilltop neighbors Rabbit and Owl nearly destroy their friendship when envy and one-upmanship take hold in this appealing story that reads much like a folk tale. First, gardener Rabbit's autumnal veggies block Owl's forest view. Then, Owl's remodel diminishes light for Rabbit's garden. So it goes, until "soon they had / the tallest houses in the world." When a windstorm assists in toppling their teetering, untenable abodes, the animals land in a pile of dirt, strewn vegetables and broken twigs. Their shared plight engenders renewed cooperation and friendship: "Alone they had nothing / but together they had all they needed / to build one small house." Marino's full-bleed pencil-and-gouache illustrations beautifully capture the pair's harmonious play, mounting rift and oh-so-satisfying reconciliation. The marvelously dizzying perspective and visual depiction of emotions mesh, in pictures that preschoolers can "read" with absorption. During their estrangement, Owl and Rabbit appear on opposite ends of double-page spreads or glare across the sky-high gap between their absurd towers. The well-turned, dialogue-rich narrative complements the sunny visuals, making this an excellent choice for one-on-one or group read-alouds. Smart design details include a tall trim size, the choice of an elegantly readable typeface and end pages that pictorially encapsulate the story arc. Another winner for rising star Marino. (Picture book. 3-6) ]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Rabbit and Owl are friends and neighbors, but tension arises between them as each tries to construct a house to fit personal needs. Marino's lovingly detailed and brightly colored illustrations range from vistas to close-ups of the ever higher houses each friend builds, and in the animals' facial expressions, she captures shifting emotions of exasperation and then fear when their homes reach too windy a height to carry on their lives comfortably. In the end, the neighbors learn to create one house, with imaginative problem solving. While the characters are anthropomorphic in postures and settings, there is a sense of authentic nature depicted here, from the various plants that Rabbit grows to the effects of weather and gravity on each animal's self-serving efforts. An engaging, accessible look at balancing personal desires with cooperation.--Goldsmith, Francisca Copyright 2010 Booklist
