The Asian Reporter's
BOOK REVIEWS

From The Asian Reporter, V19, #40 (October 13, 2009), page 13.

By George Shannon

Illustrations by Laura Dronzek

Harcourt, 2007

Hardcover, 32 pages, $16.00

By Josephine Bridges

What would you do with an extra turnip?

It’s hard to write much about this charming and humorous retelling of a Chinese fable, in which the central character is a root vegetable, without giving the ending away, so here are a few suggestions for getting to know Rabbit’s Gift.

You can judge this book by its cover, a gorgeous picture of Rabbit cradling the turnip against a snowy sky. But don’t stop there; open the book and make the acquaintance of the rest of the characters — Donkey, Goat, and Deer — all of whom are both exemplary and believable. Take note of the setting: snowy winter. Examine the near miss each character has with the turnip upon encountering it, until Rabbit flat out loses his footing. Have a little chuckle over the variety of methods the animals use to convey the protagonist from point A to point B.

Enjoy the book’s spare and simple opening lines: "Rabbit twitched his nose in the cold, damp air. Time to find food. More snow was coming. Coming soon." Or the last line: "Yes, a turnip always makes for a cozy meal." Admire the simple but by no means simplistic illustrations of the animals’ dwellings in the falling snow and the turnip itself, which has quite a personality. Learn a few Chinese symbols and marvel at how many cultures have adopted this "folktale that has been shared for centuries."

You can do all of this, just as long as you get yourself a copy of Rabbit’s Gift. And then, head out in search of a child between three and seven years old and ask what he or she would do with an extra turnip.