Can You Hear Me Now? The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld

ONE DAY TAYLOR DECIDED TO BUILD
SOMETHING AMAZING.

TAYLOR WAS PROUD.

Taylor's tower has six stories! It's terrific! It's his triumphant tour de force, his piece de resistance, his magnum opus!

And then a small flock of bad birds knock it down. It's unforeseen! It's unfortunate! It's unfair!

It's a hopeless wreck!

Taylor huddles in a puddle of sadness.

THE CHICKEN WAS THE FIRST TO NOTICE.

She clucked a sympathetic invitation to talk about it, but Taylor didn't feel like chatting with Chicken.

Bear advocated anger.

LET'S SHOUT! GRRRR! RORRR!

The Elephant advised that entertaining happy memories of his tower would make Taylor feel better. Taylor sadly didn't go for either suggestion.

Snake advocates transferring his feelings to someone else.

LET'SSS GO KNOCK DOWN SOMEONE ELSE'SSS....

Misery may love company, but Taylor didn't want pass his pain along to someone else, either. None of his animals offered what he needed--except Rabbit.

TAYLOR DIDN'T NOTICE THE RABBIT.

BUT IT MOVED CLOSER AND CLOSER.

Sometimes all a kid needs is sympathetic silence and a quiet cuddle, in Cori Doerrfeld's The Rabbit Listened (Dial Books, 2018). Author Doerrfeld's text slyly allows Taylor the chance to reject a lot of ways to handle loss, and artist Doerrfeld's endearing and poignant illustrations are both simple and yet skillfully nuanced. For a sweet rabbit story that has nothing to do with sweet treats for Easter, this one is a choice choice. As Publishers Weekly puts it, "Each of Doerrfeld’s highly distilled and elegantly concise vignettes brims with emotional honesty and profound empathy. The result is a story that’s wise, funny, and easy to take to heart."