Maurie Sween

Charlie’s Rabbit is the story of five friends, a rabbit, a boy, two mice, and a snail, that live in an aboriginal village high in the mountains of Taiwan.  Adventures that are funny, yet also serious, help the friends grow from individuals who make superficial judgments about those who are different, and commonly exclude, into animals who treat others with respect and compassion, who are willing to extend their friendship to those who are different, even difficult. 

 

The first four chapters introduce the main characters and the setting.  Here also are the first among the authentic Rukai folktales that are used throughout the novel to guide the behavior of the young friends.  In these opening pages we find the rabbit maturing from one who receives friendship into one who gives it.  The gentle soul is able to draw animals together, even unite them in a thrilling campaign against a marauding leopard and bear, an action he will regret. 

 

Five stories that make up the body of the novel follow the introduction.  In these the friends encounter a proud snake, a greedy crow, temptation, three misfits, and a lying serow.  The way in which the snake is overcome, a tale that involves a stinky water buffalo, demonstrates that when the weak unite they are strong.  The friends also prevail over thieving crows, with the help of an unnerving spider and what the friends first think of as a rather funny lie.  However the sensitive rabbit, having learned about the troubled crow family, begins to feel sorry for crows, and to question whether the friends have acted rightly.

 

The snake and crows have shown the friends the destructive power of selfishness.  Nevertheless the impetuous mouse, Cousin Harry, faces a temptation to become selfish.  The temptation: chocolate, and the thrill of stealing.  A midnight wish results in a new idea, that his energies can be released in sneaking to give rather than take.  The friends, and Cousin Harry himself, are made happy.

 

Three stories about misfits follow in rapid succession.  A rough boar, whose parents had not taught him to be gentle, and the big bear who had grown up far from other animals, and an owl had been mocked by other birds, show the friends that even toughest have problems, and that even bullies can become friends.  Indeed when meeting the bear the rabbit learns a horrible truth, that by chasing the gentle creature away he had been a bully.  He regrets his actions, and later teaches the owl to feel sorry for those who had bullied him, because there is much they don’t know.

 

The friends have learned compassion, and long to be gentle with a young serow who has stolen, but he lies about his actions.  The boy and rabbit, trying to help the serow, are interrupted by a furious crow who accuses them of being a thieves and liars.  Deceiving the crows was not the right thing to do.  The body of the novel is now brought to a climax.  A typhoon approaches.  If the warning does not go out many of the animals will get hurt.  The boy pleads for help from the loud voiced, fast winged, crows.  The crows refuse.  They don’t trust the boy.  The typhoon strikes.

 

In the aftermath of the typhoon the boy offers a vision for reconstruction.  A monkey argues the animals are too selfish.  Yet the story of the once vicious monkeys shows change is possible.  Humbled crows prove the point.  A restrained discussion of the Creator’s power to transform hearts is discussed.  Hope rises.  Love is expressed.  Rebuilding begins.

 

Our novel concludes with many of the animals we have met apologizing for their failures and thanking those who helped them survive the typhoon.  Yet this is not a, “They lived happily ever after,” story.  A new problem arises.  The friends must apply what they have learned in a situation that is analogous to what a student in Taiwan might face.  An obnoxious bird arrives in the woodland.  The temperamental Cousin Harry suffers from the bird’s antics.  Cousin Harry rises to the occasion.  He turns not from but toward the bird, and helps him integrate into his group.  The story ends with the mouse receiving a hero’s wreath and a kiss, and the rabbit reflecting about how things are beginning to be as they should.

 

The book is important because so many people, children and adults alike, struggle in their relationships.  Classmates and colleagues can be cruel, bullying and excluding, stealing and lying.  Charlie’s Rabbit offers an explanation about why things are this way, and offers ideas about how to make them better.  The stories told demonstrate how selfishness breaks friendships and causes pain, but that selflessness can build relationships and bring happiness.  Charlie’s Rabbit is a book written to delight, and also to plant a vision for the society that could be, should be.