Fierce Bad Rabbits: The Tales Behind Children's Picture Books

Description

A nostalgic and eye-opening journey through our best-loved picture books, from Peter Rabbit to The Gruffalo What is The Tiger Who Came to Tea really about? How is Meg and Mog related to Polish embroidery? And why does death in picture books involve being eaten? Fierce Bad Rabbits explores the stories behind our favourite picture books, weaving in tales of Clare Pollard's childhood reading and her re-discovery of the classic tales as a parent. Because the best picture books are far more complex than they seem - and darker too. Monsters can gobble up children and go unnoticed, power is not always used wisely, and the wild things are closer than you think.

Clare Pollard is an award-winning poet and playwright based in London. She is the author of five poetry collections and the Editor of the Modern Poetry in Translation magazine. She is striving to build the perfect picture-book library for her two small children.

When I read Fierce Bad Rabbits, I thought, why has no one written this book before? But Clare Pollard has done so superbly - it is perceptive, illuminating, scholarly but at the same time entertaining. It should be essential reading for every thinking parent * Penelope Lively * This book is a happy way to reconnect with old friends * Times * An enlightening, perceptive analysis of the books that build us * Sunday Telegraph, 5 star review * A gem . . . hard to put down. The combination of vast scholarly research and witty writing makes for a thoroughly enjoyable book. Pollard has managed to dissect all our favourite stories with her scalpel, while leaving their magic intact * Spectator * Pollard is a poet, and her prose is stunning . . . she writes with a joy that is luminous. Essential reading for anyone with a child, or who ever was a child * i * Most people's primal cultural memory is that of being read to by a parent. This is a phenomenon most sensitively and intelligently explored in Fierce Bad Rabbits * Daily Telegraph * Pollard so delicately enters into the world of [picture books] that the reader feels they are rediscovering once-loved landscapes * New Statesman * Delightful. As good a guide as you could hope for. It will make you think again about why you loved the children's stories that mean so much to you, and it will lead you to new discoveries too. . . A happy reconnection to the serious joys of childhood * Harper's Bazaar * Excellent * Daily Mail Book of the Week * A celebration of picture books and their artists to spark your own childhood memories * Evening Standard *