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Back in the 1960s, my parents bought a World Book encyclopedia set and the accompanying Childcraft set. One volume of the Childcraft set consisted of selections from famous children’s literature. That is how I learned about Curious George, Dr. Dolittle – and The Tough Winter. But I somehow never read the full books. It was more than 10 years later, when I was in graduate school and my wife was finishing up her undergraduate degree at Michigan State University, that towards the end of the week we would meet at the Education Building before walking home together. I found a little library there that contained many children’s classics. There I found the originals of all the books I had first learned about in childhood but had never read – Curious George, Dr. Dolittle, and Rabbit Hill and The Tough Winter and more. That was the spark that started my love for children’s literature.
At that time, I also learned that the author of Rabbit Hill and The Tough Winter, which form a two-book series, was Robert Lawson, who both wrote and illustrated these books. Robert Lawson (1892-1957) was born and raised around New York City and served in World War I. He and his wife lived most of their life in Westport, Connecticut. He is the only person who has won both the Caldecott Medal and the Newbery Award. He is probably most famous for Rabbit Hill and The Tough Winter. Lawson also illustrated a lovely abridged version of The Pilgrim’s Progress. Among the select few author/illustrators that I know of in children’s literature, he is one of the best.
Rabbit Hill, which won the 1945 Newbery Award, can be compared to The Wind in the Willows, with animals talking and living in their usual homes but with comforts beyond what real animals usually have. There is, however, no character like Mr. Toad of Toad Hall, but there are comic relief characters like Uncle Analdas Rabbit. Little Georgie, the youngest child and the only one still at home in the Rabbit family, is the main character. He and his family, as well as birds, mice - including Georgie’s special friend Willie, a skunk named Phewie, a woodchuck named Porky, and a stag, all live around the Hill, in Connecticut, which is surmounted by a large house where various Folks live. Times have been hard on the Hill, with the last Folks, and their garden, a disappointment to the animals. The animals are all looking forward to the new Folks and the fruit of the new Folks’ garden! There is danger, adventure, warm companionship, and even spiritual depth, as the character of the Folks becomes clear to the animals. The story is by turns amusing and touching, with a wonderful ending.
The Tough Winter is a lovely sequel that is within a (rabbit’s) whisker of being as good as Rabbit Hill. The kindly Folks leave for the winter and a caretaker and his family take over. Winter is the hardest time for the animals and the caretaker is nothing like the kindly Folks. The animals’ comments on his character are hilarious! All the residents of the Hill are facing starvation. To relieve the Rabbits of the burden of providing for him, Uncle Analdas goes wandering, looking for the kindly fields of Kentucky, and finds them one half mile down the road from the Rabbit’s burrow! The Tough Winter is another funny and touching book, with wonderful illustrations, by Robert Lawson. Both books are appropriate for upper elementary and beyond, and are wonderful family read-alouds because of their witty and gentle writing.