In 2000, Little Grey Rabbit was adapted as a television animation series by Cosgrove Hall Films[1]. Each episode was a ten-minute adaptation of a Grey Rabbit book. The character designs and backgrounds were based on Margaret Tempest’s illustrations, and according to Cosgrove Hall Ate My Brain, the series was “drawn animation”.
Unfortunately it seems that the series was only released on VHS by Reader’s Digest, so until a DVD set is released or it becomes available streaming, the tie-in books are a decent option for getting a partial experience of the animated series if you missed out on the original airdates. I would dearly love to hear the voice actors; I imagine Hugh Laurie’s voice suited Hare perfectly.
The tie-in books
There’s two types of tie-in books, both are grouped under “The Tales of Little Grey Rabbit” and have a logo of the cartoon version of Grey Rabbit printed center top on the cover.
The first is a softback adaptation of Alison Uttley’s text and uses stills from the television series as illustrations. The other tie-in is a hardcover with dust jacket reprint of Uttley’s original text and Tempest’s original illustrations and additional illustrations by Mark Burgess. Except for the logo, its connection to the animated series is less overt.
The book I am using for this blog post is the soft back copy of The Story of Fuzzybeg the Hedgehog. It is Alison Uttley’s original text, adapted by Helen Cresswell’s for television, then back to book format by Collins editor Susan Dickinson.
The plot is the same. The day after Fuzzypeg’s birthday, a human captures him and places him under a flowerpot. All the woodland animals work together to find and to rescue Fuzzypeg. There are minor differences such as Wise Owl questioning different animals about Fuzzypeg and the farm dog’s refusal aid wild animals. Moldy Warp staying behind to eat the bread and milk that the human placed under the flowerpot for Fuzzypeg.
THE DESIGN
It’s all about Margaret Tempest, which is completely understandable, considering Tempest is the illustrator most strongly tied to the series and partly credited with its success. It is similar to Maurice Sendak being so strongly associated with Else Holmelund Minarik’s Little Bear[2] that when it was adapted as an animated series, it was marketed as Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear.
So, sticking with Tempest naturally appeals to people who grew up with the first books and would like to share it with their children or grandchildren. The book cover design incorporates the pen and ink drawing of the woods that was used on the endpapers of the original books. It has a circle advertising, “as seen on t.v.” The back also advertises “Little Grey Rabbit is now a major new animation series on CiTV”.
The book has a layout quite like the Collins reprints, where it shows an isolated figure on the page next to the text, or a complete illustration framed in a rectangle or oval.
In the below image, all of the characters off to rescue Fuzzypeg, with Milkman Hedgehog leading the way.
To make the faces of the animals more expressive, small strokes define the direction of the fur near the eyes, but also seems to double as eyebrows. This eyebrows touch reminded me of certain episodes the World of Peter Rabbit & Friends animated series from the nineties.The contrast of lighter fur around the eyes and muzzles is more pronounced than Tempest’s illustrations too, I think.
Overall, all most of the characters have a cute and good-natured look to them—smiley even. Except Wise Owl…
Wise Owl’s design has been simplified to the point where it looks comical and a departure from Tempest’s Wise Owl. It’s details such as very pointy ear tufts and bright round yellow eyes that make him look so funny. It might be that an awkward still was selected for the book, however the design made me go back and look at Margaret Tempest’s illustrations of the owl, and I noticed that she didn’t illustrate Wise Owl close up too often, especially in the Story of Fuzzypeg. It gave him an air of mystery and menance. Even in Wise Owl’s Story, Uttley mainly illustrated him from a distance, flying, or from behind, or when she did do a close-up, his eyes were usually drawn shut. When his eyes were open, the colors were more subdued—rather like a Tawny Owl. I suppose owls are capable of looking very intense; perhaps it was adapted this way for the young target audience, thereby removing some of the menace from the character.
The Hedgehog house is a very lovely background. Of all the backgrounds it stood out the most, and it looks like a watercolor illustration.
Tim Hedgehog gearing up to rain on Fuzzypeg’s parade. One my favorite still frames: Fuzzypeg telling his cousins about how his father killed an adder. Little details like the drawn down mouth, lines at the edges like a pucker, and his hooded eyes make it look like Tim is gearing up to scoff and thinking, “hmm, what’s bigger and fiercer than an adder?” A lion, of course.
Another one of my favorites, the little animals cheer Fuzzypeg’s escape.
All’s well that ends well, the small animals celebrate back at the Hedgehog’s home.
All in all it’s a worthwhile purchase if you’re curious about the animated series and would like to see how Margaret Tempest’s art translated to television quality animation. Or, how Alison Uttley’s text was updated for the modern target audience in 2000.
These books are out of print, but you can find them second hand via ebay, Alibris, or Amazon Marketplace.
Moledy Warp the Mole
ISBN 0-00-198389-X
Publisher: Harper Collins & Edgemont Children’s Books
The Story of Fuzzybeg the Hedgehog. ISBN 0-00-710012-4
Collins
Oh man, it looks like I did another wordy post. Ah well, I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading (or looking) to the end.
Sincerely,
Primrose
[1] If you’re a North American, like me, you may know Cosgrove for Danger Mouse, Count Duckula, and the animated adaptation of Roald Dahl’s the B.F.G.
[2] Even the toothpaste commercials advertised that it was “Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear”.
Little Grey Rabbit Scholar 