The boastful jackrabbits, the aristocratic snobby rabbits, and the male rabbits who laugh when little country bunny tells them that she will grow up to become to be one of the revered Easter Bunnies - are all proven wrong.
Little country bunny grows up, has children, and through the pure goodness of her heart and common sense catches the eye of the Wise Old Grandfather bunny.
Ta-da! He asks her to be an Easter Bunny! After trials and tribulations, her determination, caring, and perseverence carry her through, and she is exalted beyond her dreams by Grandfather Bunny. She is wise, and nice, and very humble.
I love this story because is beautifully written and teaches that those with good and kind hearts, who work hard and persevere, will triumph. Being rich, big, high-born, young, male, does not matter where it really counts - all that matters is what is in your heart.
I first read this as a minority child growing up in a rural community. Now I am a professional in a large city. This book made a difference for me.
With elements of Aesop peeping in and out of the text (not the least of which includes the fable of the tortoise and the hare), Heyward manages to make a rabbit with 21 little children sound not only sane, but brilliant. The Country Bunny (or Little Cottontail Mother, as she is called throughout) gives her children each small chores to keep them busy, contribute to the overall quality of their shared family life, and make them feel like valued members of the group. They grow up to be sweet, cheerful, polite, and industrious bunnies, and the Country Bunny uses their fine breeding to great effect to achieve an audition for the role of Easter Bunny.
Heyward's text is inimitably enriched by the sweet pictures of artist Marjorie Flack. The bunnies are plush and adorable, the scenery idyllic, and the colors bright as Technicolor. This is a trip down Memory Lane, even for those who didn't grow up with the book, and a future memory-maker for any child who loves Easter and Easter bunnies.