Rabbit stories

A small collection has one advantage: you can know both stories properly. These two share a species and almost nothing else, so the choice is really a choice of mood.

The slow one

The Devoted Friend runs about six minutes and is marked gentle. It is a story about a friend who keeps asking and a friend who keeps giving, and it ends with a question rather than a triumph. Children of six and up tend to notice the unfairness in it, which is the point. If your child has been having a rough time with a friend at school, this is the one that opens a conversation.

The lively one

The Three Robbers is eight minutes and marked adventurous. Three thieves, a great deal of creeping about, and a turn towards kindness at the end that children rarely see coming. It is the better read-aloud of the pair because the robbers want voices.

If bedtime is already late, read The Devoted Friend. It is shorter, it is quieter, and it does not end on a burst of excitement. Save the robbers for a night when there is still half an hour in hand, or for a weekend afternoon when a bit of noise costs nothing.

Read both in one sitting only if your child is seven or older and used to a fourteen-minute stretch. Otherwise pick one and let the other be tomorrow. Our guide to how long a bedtime story should be has more on judging that.

Rabbits turn up more often than this collection suggests, usually as the small creature who wins by being patient. The Hare and the Tortoise is the famous one, six minutes, and a good follow-on if the idea of the quick animal losing appeals. The Hare with Many Friends makes almost the same argument as The Devoted Friend in six minutes and is easier on a younger child. Rabbit’s Eyes is the quiet one of the three, about noticing what you already have.

The closest thing to a third rabbit story here is The Velveteen Rabbit, which lives in toy stories because its rabbit is stuffed. For more four-legged company, animal stories is the larger pool these two came out of.