Fabulous!
“Back when rabbits were small, twitchy, terrified things, warrens were little more than a collection of holes and tunnels.”
Who would have thought that a group of young rabbits running away from the evil Gorm could have been quite so compelling. Now, I have to confess, that I am a big fan of a bit of fantasy and love an alternative world dominated by creatures with big furry feat but generally the books I have read are for older readers. So, to be thrown into this frozen rabbit world, which I thought would be more Watership Down than the Hobbit, was a real surprise.
This is a fabulous read. The ‘bard’ who tells us the story reminds me of the romantic middle ages, when story tellers would go from village to village to recount days of old. I felt like one of the little rabbits sat at his feet eagerly lapping up his every word. It’s funny but this story reminds me of the old Norse legends I read many years ago, or something along the lines of Beowulf. Now this may be because the names of the places where these little rabbits are living remind me of a number of places in my spiritual home of Denmark and nearby Sweden. However, like all good fantasy stories, our little rabbits start off life in their comfortable warren and the Podkin of the title, seems an unlikely hero.
Podkin has neglected his studies and spent most of his life snoozing and playing the role of the lazy son of the chief. I was a little disappointed therefore that his big sister, Paz, who has studied hard and can fight well, is not in line to replace her father. Surely the idea of a male descendant could have been unpicked here. We need a few more heroines who are dominant and ultimately save the day. As even though Podkin spends all his time acknowledging that his sister is better than him, ultimately it’s still Podkin who saves the day (I don’t think this is a spoiler. After all it would be a sad day if a little one eared rabbit didn’t make it to the end of the story). There are some other characters in the book that make up for the stereotyping. The blind Crom is clever and, just like the rabbits in the story, I kept wondering how on earth he would fight. And Bridgid, the witch rabbit, is vital to our understanding of the story, as she explains the balance in nature to the readers and the little rabbits that underpins the story.
The Gorm are the villains of the piece and the idea of metal and iron crushing the natural world is a clever idea. The fact that they seem invincible is part of the beauty of the story. There is no way that 3 young rabbits (really it’s two, as Pook is far too small to do anything really) can possibly fight off armour clad villains who have armour clad crow spies flying around the woods watching their every move. Their leader, the rather intriguingly named, Scramashank, has red eyes, a two horned helmet and is clearly the product of many myths and legends. He is a formidable adversary and again, like all good fantasies, he seems impossible to overcome.
I loved the wonderful illustrations in this edition, drawn in pencil by David Wyatt. They are beautifully detailed and I spent more than a usual amount of time pouring over them trying to see what was hidden in the pictures. They also capture the gloom and hope of the story, creating both the light and dark themes that are prevalent throughout the tale.
Who should read this?
I should imagine a group of Year 5s or 6s would love this as a class reader. There is plenty of discussion to be had around the characters and setting. You could also easily discuss pathetic fallacy with them, if you wanted to explore some literary concepts with them. Perhaps the most interesting discussion will be around the narrative structure and the use of the ‘bard’. I know I enjoyed reading this book and it would be good fun to read at bedtime to your kids … as long as you’re not scared of the Gorm!