Work/Life and the Country Bunny
I want an army of rabbit children to clean my house!
Hello, drawing book readers! Guess what - I wrote up a new story featuring a couple of my favourite pages from my old sketchbook journal series, and I was all ready to post it… when I remembered that it’s Easter Sunday! Way back in 2013, I had a new blog, and I wrote an Easter-themed post about a new book (well, it was new back then) and an old book. I think I’m going to share that today, instead! This is a slightly condensed version: you can read the original one here. It’s kind of a deep dive into a children’s book, so it may not be everyone’s cup of tea… but there’s a comics page in here too, for the comics fans. Enjoy, and happy Easter!
September 2013
Recently I was asked if I'd be part of a panel about "Women in Comics" for the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo. That's just the kind of thing I'd usually love to be part of. But I had to say no, for the same reason I'm missing the whole Expo this year: I'm expecting a baby that's due in just a few more days. What a classic "Women in Comics" situation - or "Women in Anything," really! Babies show up when they want to, throw your career out of whack and teach you how to juggle work and life!
In anticipation of a bit of a hiatus from blogging (and everything else I usually do), there's one thing I've been wanting to write about. Well, actually two things. One is a new book called "Work/Life 3." And the other is an old book called "The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes."
Work/Life 3 is the third in a series of books created by local publishing house UPPERCASE Press.
I was intrigued by the opportunity to be part of an illustration directory, particularly one that was the product of a Calgary business. I also liked the theme of "Work/Life" - that's been my own theme song for a while now, even before I quit my day job a little under two years ago (best decision ever) to start taking this juggling act seriously!
So I headed down to Art Central to meet UPPERCASE publisher Janine Vangool and find out a bit more about this little local powerhouse of all of things print. And a few months later, I received Work/Life 3 - a very cool compilation showcasing 100 illustrators from around the world: not just samples of their work, but stories and images from their lives.
I have a hard time keeping text out of my pictures... I can't really draw a picture without trying to tell a story at the same time. So here's the piece I drew for Work/Life 3: a comic strip, of course.
What a cliffhanger ending!! And all true! So much for my plans to launch my brilliant full-time freelance art career. It'll have to remain a juggling act for a while longer. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Which brings us to the Country Bunny!
As you may know if you've been reading this blog, I'm a fan of children's literature - mostly Young Adult Fiction. But I do love books for younger children, too, and I've been glad, since having had my son Alec in 2009, to have had occasion to enjoy so many of them again! The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes is one that my grandmother gave me when I was small, and which I remembered vividly... but which I've never seen around since. Indulge me for a sec before I tell you more. The story starts with the mention of a little brown country bunny who, as a girl, dreams one day of being an Easter Bunny...
So you'd think that that would be the end of the story right there, wouldn't you? (I love the little wrinkle under her eye that just hints at the exhaustion of early parenthood.) When I rediscovered this book a year or two ago, I didn't have any clue about its context or history. All I knew was what it said in the book: published in 1939. Sounds like a time in which the career goals of a young lady rabbit would be forgotten with the arrival of one, much less twenty-one, children! And indeed, this resilient young mother puts aside her dreams and throws herself wholeheartedly into her new "career" - with great results. I love these pages (illustrations are by Marjorie Flack, by the way):
OK, so if you happen to have a child (or a houseful of children), I know you're already fantasizing about the gloriously well-kept house of the Country Bunny and her brood. (And just where is Mr. Bunny, by the way? More on him later.)
Anyway, it turns out that auditions are being held for the post of Easter Bunny, and Mrs. Bunny heads out with her children to watch the contest (again - where's Mr. Bunny?!). She ends up impressing the "old, kind, wise, Grandfather Bunny" who is doing the choosing. He wonders if she could possibly be swift enough for the job, but she proves herself by sending her children hopping off in all directions...
(Everyone knows that nothing moves faster than a parent chasing a child!)
But no! She explains how she's trained her amazing children to take care of the house even better than she can do herself. And this was in the days in which you could actually just go out and deliver Easter eggs all night, leaving your youngsters at home, without even needing a babysitter, a baby monitor, or a cell phone (or a husband, apparently, because he still hasn't made an appearance). So technically there is nothing to keep her away. And the old Grandfather Bunny says: "I see that you are wise also..."
I just loved the above picture (a double spread in the book) that shows all those eggs piled up in the cavernous halls of the palace.
I won't give away the adventures that befall our valiant Mrs. Bunny on Easter night. Suffice to say, her efforts win her the magical pair of golden shoes… while her amazing children are at home doing the housework!
As a child, I only loved the story, but re-reading this as an adult, I saw two other things: one, that I think I want twenty-one well-trained rabbit children to clean my house, and two, that there's more to this story than I'd realized. There's actually a pretty strong message of racial equality in the tale of the "little brown bunny" who rises to the coveted post of Easter Bunny, despite the put-downs of narrow-minded, wealthy, snooty white bunnies (whom I didn't show in this post). Indeed, I discovered that the story has been widely acclaimed for its place in the social justice movement. Years later, it was (almost!) made into a ballet - this would have been incredible - produced by Ismail Merchant of Merchant Ivory fame (My original blog post lined to an article about that astounding project, which seems to have been truncated upon Merchant's sudden death - but that link doesn’t work now, and I can’t find another reference to this online. Too bad!).
But what really struck me was that it was a story of female empowerment. At a time when many women weren't even allowed to work - at least not in the careers of their choice - the Country Bunny takes her twenty-one children to the job interview and gets the job, without apparently even consulting her spouse, much less receiving his permission!
Yes, the absence of Mr. Bunny really surprises me. Either he's working up in Fort Mac, or he's out of the picture completely. But whatever the case, the Country Bunny doesn't seem to be suffering from it. She's completely independent. And she's complex: realistic, but still harbouring dreams.
You'd think that the story of a lady who puts aside her childhood dreams while raising her family, and then goes on to have a brilliant career after the kids are old enough to look after themselves, sounds like a story that would resonate with readers today. It is amazing this feminist-friendly book was written in 1939, and not only that, written by a man. DuBose Heyward (pictured here) was the ahead-of-his-time South Carolina writer who penned this little tale.
I'm tipping my Easter bonnet to the Country Bunny, that heroine of a bygone generation who apparently wrote the book on balancing work and life!
Thanks for reading! We’ll get back to the Drawing Book comics next week, I promise.
Loved this post Sam! 🙂