Alison Uttley wrote Little Grey Rabbit’s Washing Day during WWII, her son who was inspired by their laundry drying on the line suggested the plot. According to Country Child, Uttley preferred it to Water Rat’s Picnic and chuckled as she wrote it.
Tag: Animal Genre Fiction
Little Grey Rabbit’s Birthday
Little Grey Rabbit’s Birthday
Illustrations by Margaret Tempest.
Alison Uttley wrote Little Grey Rabbit’s Birthday around the end of 1941, along with Hare Joins the Home Guard but it was not available to the public until December 1944. I like to imagine she received letters from children wanting to know Rabbit’s birthday, or because her characters were “real” that they naturally would have a detail like a birthday.
Grey Rabbit’s May Day
Wishing you a happy May!
Other than playing the Lusty Month of May from Camelot a few times. May Day or Lady Day is not a holiday I’ve ever observed, but am familiar with from English novels and stories. Grey Rabbit’s May Day is all about the little animals celebrating May Day like the village children except with their own carol and spin on the traditions. Despite my tearing through Grey Rabbit books as soon as they arrive in the mail, I made a concentrated effort to save GR’s May Day to enjoy on the eve of May Day.
The Hare, the Squirrel, and the Little Grey Rabbit
The Hare, the Squirrel, and the Little Grey Rabbit by Allison Uttley, illustrated by Margaret Tempest. 1928
Little Grey Rabbit ‘s Story Treasury – 2013
Twenty-three watercolor illustrations
Superficially The Hare, the Squirrel, and the Little Grey Rabbit by Alison Uttley is a diverting tale of some animals. In some small ways it is reminiscent of Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel. It was written and published decades ago amidst the end of World War I, and yet it remains in print. I think if there is a moral to this tale, it’s cautioning against the vices of laziness, pride and conceit. It’s not uncommon in children’s literature to use animals to teach morals. Also, it has the enduring message of good citizenship and being part of a community.
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Little Red Fox to Little Grey Rabbit
As a child I loved Alison Uttley’s stories of 
Rufus, aka the Little Red Fox (1954). It was the only Alison Uttley book, an audiobook at that, in my local library’s collection. I borrowed it many times and never forgot the humorous details like sycamore keys and the song of the Wicked Uncle. Yet, as much as I loved the stories and Uttley’s style, I was never curious about her other book mentioned on the back of the audiobook clamshell case: Little Grey Rabbit.
Little Grey Rabbit Scholar 