  | Book Details Title: The Rabbits’ Rebellion |
Book DescriptionReview “A wickedly funny allegory for today’s post-truth era.” –Kirkus Reviews”Uncannily timed … In prose that speaks volumes, Dorfman’s eerily prescient allegorical gem shapes a resounding portrait of power abused and censorship foiled, reinforced by Riddell’s droll, spot-on line drawings. A tale for the ages–and for all ages.” –Publishers Weekly”It’s near perfect … a wondrous little volume – immediate and clever enough for a young readership, and so telling it can only invoke a grudging nod of truth (and a smile) from adults.” –The Bookbag (UK) Read more About the Author ARIEL DORFMAN is the author of many novels, poems, plays, essays, and films, often set in his native South America. His plays have been staged in over a hundred countries and his books translated into more than thirty languages. He has received numerous international prizes, including the Laurence Olivier and the Time Out Awards for best play of the year for Death and the Maiden. His first book, How to Read Donald Duck, which shows the beloved Disney character to be an agent of American cultural imperialism, and which was banned in Chile upon its publication in 1971, was published in English for the first time in Fall 2018. His most recent novel is Darwin’s Ghost (Seven Stories Press, 2018). The Rabbits’ Rebellion, first published in the 1980s, is Dorfman’s only book for children, and is being published in North America now for the first time. A prominent human rights activist, Dorfman lives with his wife Angélica in Chile and Durham, North Carolina, where he is the Walter Hines Page Emeritus Professor of Literature at Duke University. Seven Stories publishes a great number of Dorfman’s books in English and Spanish, including the Spanish language edition of Death and the Maiden, La muerte y la doncella.CHRIS RIDDELL is best known as the author and illustrator of the acclaimed The Edge Chronicles series, written with Paul Stewart. He has illustrated many other books including the award-winning children’s book, Pirate Diary, 100 Hugs, and several titles with Neil Gaiman, the most recent of which is Art Matters: Because Your Imagination Can Change the World. He is also the political cartoonist for the Guardian and Observer newspapers. He lives in England. Read more Customers Review:This is certainly an entertaining illustrated book for a read-along or an early reader, but it seems to me to be much more than that. Allow me to explain.The setup here is that the Wolf has conquered the rabbit kingdom and has decreed that all trace of rabbitdom be erased. Not a word about rabbits; no reference to rabbits; certainly no actual rabbits. With that out of the way, the Wolf King orders an aged, fearful photographer to record the King’s every move as the Wolf expands his authoritarian cult of personality.Here’s the really interesting part. This book is illustrated by Chris Riddell, who has illustrated innumerable classic and popular kids books,(and is also a noted political cartoonist). The illustrations aren’t merely of the action in the book. Rather, the illustrations are supposedly the photos that have been taken. And, photo by photo more and more rebellious rabbits have sneaked into the picture. The “photo bomb” as an act of rebellion and resistance. I don’t think I’ve ever read a kids book in which the narrative and the illustrations are so slyly and intimately intertwined. As the book progresses the rabbits’ subtle acts of resistance grow in intensity, (as recorded by the photographer), until the Wolf King is overthrown.The upshot here is that you get a bracing tale of political resistance, a narrative with the feel of a fable but the punch of a manifesto, and drawings that are puckish and yet strangely compelling. That’s quite a trifecta. (The fact that the photo-bombing rabbits look like naughty, saucy pranksters is also an engaging touch, and very rabbity.)This is Ariel Dorfman’s only book for children. He is best known in his native South America for acute and subversive cultural criticism, and for shrewd political satire and commentary. So, introduce your young reader to a bit of whimsical magical realism, with a political kick.(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.) | |
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