There are an awful lot of children's books specifically about love. The titles ask a thousand variations on the questions, "Do you love me?" "Will you love me forever?" "How much do you love me" I hate to be a spoiler, but the answers turn out to be, respectively: "Yes," "Yes," and "More than you can possibly imagine with your little pea brain."
These books are cute, but I always suspect they are written for the benefit of the parents, and not so much for the kids. This is not necessarily a bad thing: it really can help to say the words " I love you very much, and I will never stop" out loud when perhaps you are shrieking inside your head, "What is the matter with you, and when will you stop?" Or does bedtime look different at your house?
Anyway, one typical structure of these books is a peculiar kind of one-upsmanship of affection: "Oh, you love me to the moon? Well, I love you to the moon and back!" And then there's the notorious Love You Forever, where the mother apparently lives inside her adult son's underwear drawer just in case he ever, ever, ever forgets for a single second that she loves him.
And let's not forget that skin-crawlingly loathsome classic, The Giving Tree, a book which makes St. Francis himself vomit with rage. But more about that in a future post.
Here's a short list of books for young kids that convey something about love (all with above-average illustrations). Add your favorites in the comments! Unless, of course, it's The Giving Tree.
One Potato, Two Potato By Cynthia DeFelice and Andrea U'ren
This one has an unusual focus: a very old couple, so poor they have to share everything, including a chair, a blanket, and the one last potato in the garden. A simple and hilarious story, but so much to unpack about what you really need in life. The illustrations are understated but extraordinary.
The Clown of God by Tomie dePaola
Sure, I'll read you this one, if you don't mind me blubbering all over the last page. A young boy has to make his own way in the world, and becomes a famous traveling clown with a signature juggling routine. But when he is old, no one wants to see his old tricks anymore -- nobody except one person, a stranger to the old man, but one who's been waiting for him and his gift.
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Okay, so it's not strictly about love, but the story is framed fore and aft by the unseen, dependable mother. She justly punishes Max for some genuinely wretched behavior -- but when her wild boy is ready to come home from his interior adventure with monsters, his dinner is waiting for him, "and it was still hot." What more could a boy want?
The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Andersen
Still searching for the name of the illustrator from my childhood edition of this book. No matter which copy I get, though, the final pages tend to be a little soggy -- not sure why. A strange and difficult fairy tale about a sister and her beloved brothers -- the boys cruelly changed into swans by a jealous stepmother, the gracious young sister a pillar of strength, working furiously for her brothers' salvation, keeping silent even as she's condemned to death. (And yes, it has a happy ending!)
Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mose, illustrated by Blair Lent
The mother blatantly prefers one child to the other -- so much so that she gives the first a long, elaborate name that means "the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world," while the other son is named "Chang," "which means 'little' or 'nothing'" (but the brothers clearly see each other as equals). But the first son's "great, long name" almost costs him his life, and it's only through his devoted brother's heroic struggle that the overly cherished son's life is saved. (I also always had lots of sympathy for the old man with the ladder, who just wants to lie down.)
Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
I hope everybody already knows this book. Steadfast, heroic, even ridiculous devotion trumps biology! True, that (and more pertinent than ever as advice columns are full of men wondering what to do because the DNA test showed that a beloved child is "not really his.")
Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop, illustrated by Kurt Wiese
I've always thought of this one as a happier version of those seven brothers and their mother in Maccabees: the mother and the brothers are steadfast and strong, even as they're led to execution. But in this much more cheerful story, each one sacrifices himself for the others, standing in for the unjustly accused brother, using his unique and bizarre talents to save the day. Best family ever.
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson
Ferdinand is a bull who doesn't want to fight and butt and stick his horns around. He wants to sit just quietly and smell the flowers. And his mother doesn't harass him, because she is a good mother, even though she is a cow. That's all!
I suppose what I like about these books is that it's so obvious that the characters in them love each other because of what they do, not because of what they say. It's super duper easy to say, "I love you, I love you, I love you so much." And of course kids need to hear this! But they, and all of us, also need to see that love is action, not just words.
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Hooray! At last somebody has publicly stated what many of us have secretly felt but never dared admit openly at playdates: The Giving Tree and Love You Forever are emasculating books. Don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m looking forward to my children growing up and taking care of ME for a change.
I love your posts about books! It’s helping me build my collection. Thanks!!
So strange… I just read The Giving Tree to my son for the first time (and it was my first read of it) yesterday! Got it from the library. I have to admit, I got choked up from the whole idea of unconditional love.
Also, Love You Forever happens to be my all-time favourite book from my childhood, LOL! It made me cry when I was nine and I still cry every time I read it to my son. I don’t know… I guess I’m just really sensitive; even more so now that I’m a mama. Although, let’s get one thing straight: I would never bring a ladder to his house and break into it in the middle of the night… Even when I was a kid, I thought that was messed up. :P
I want to thank you so much for saying that about The Giving Tree. It’s a book that either prepares your child to marry an alcoholic or something like that (if he identifies with the tree) or gives him permission to use the people who love him (if he identifies with the boy).
AMDG
Why are the two loathsome books you mentioned the only ones that consistently make me cry when reading to the kids?
@Janet Cupo - Yeah, there is no reciprocity. Well put.
Thanks so much for your honest assessment of Love You Forever. When I was younger I told my mom how creepy that book was and she criticized me saying I was unfeeling and that she hoped I would change my mind when I had kids. Five kids later, I still think it’s a terrible book. Glad to have an advocate on my side!
I have always privately thought that the Giving Tree is so, so wrong on so many levels - it just sounds like a dysfunctional, abusive relationship. Everyone else I know loves it, so I have always kept quiet. Thanks for saying what I can’t.
Yay! The Giving Tree! This should be a comments section second only to your Kincaid (sp?) post. If that tree were a parent it would be one of those parents of the “Millennials” who thinks love means indulging their children’s every whim, regardless of expense, asking them to contribute nothing as members of the family, and doing nothing to make sure they develop any of the virtues and other qualities they’ll need to be decent people. So they grow up caring about nothing and nobody, totally unaware that relationships are supposed to be two-way. How that book has gained a following that finds it uplifting and beautiful has always mystified me.
Well, I see an interesting trend developing in the comments, so I will now say something about the good books.
I have always loved The Wild Swans. It’s such a beautiful story and so achingly sad that she doesn’t quite finish the last coat of mail. And I have quoted Horton so many times—I meant what I said and I said what I meant. I love that book.
AMDG
I always loved Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Wild Swans.” Thanks for mentioning it.
Yeah, “Love You Forever” does seem strange at first glance, but it’s a bedtime story.Moms don’t really do that when their children grow up, but we hold them in our hearts that way.
(Brothers don’t change into swans, either.)
Yes, I suppose it would be nice to look on the positive side, wouldn’t it? For older kids, I always loved Ruth Sawyer’s “Maggie Rose’s Birthday Christmas,” about a shiftless and happy-go-lucky family and their one earnest and industrious daughter, who love each other completely despite not understanding each other at all. For younger kids, “My Mother is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World,” a Russian folk tale about a lost peasant child trying to find his mother.
Great books. I admit that I cry when I read Love You Forever, partly because when I became a mother I joined the Hallmark Suck Club and partly because I heard somewhere Munsch wrote it about a child of his who was miscarried or stillborn.
I haven’t even read The Giving Tree to my kids, and I’m not going to, because we have The Story of Ferdinand and The Clown of God.
Well, if we are going to get into book for older kids, I love almost all books by Meindert de Jong. Shadrach, about a boy and his rabbit for maybe 4 and up, and then the Wheel on the School. The characters in his books are so wonderful and loving in a completely natural, everyday way. If by some chance you haven’t read WotS, the great thing about it is that the whole village—and most importantly to me, people of all ages—are drawn together to achieve a goal, which is to get storks to come to the village. It’s not a fake—oh, see how special we all are—sort of unity, but just the sort of love that grows when people work together and get to know each other a little better.
AMDG
Dear Ms. Fischer,
After finding out the other day that you don’t like babies, I am not so shocked to learn that you don’t believe in love. Maybe if you had some kids instead of sitting around reading all day you would understand the meaning of life a little better. In the meantime, I will pray for your wretched soul.
P.S. You made me spit coffee all over the keyboard again, and I never read One Potato, Two Potato, so thank you!
I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who finds Forever, For Always weird. It is both weird and depressing to me. I like Guess How Much I Love You, because it is exactly what my four year old does (she’s a competitive little thing).The Wild Swans is gorgeous, too. I think the children’s book that gets me the most teary eyed is Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant.
Perhaps the most beautiful is Oscar Wilde’s, The Selfish Giant.
Oh, my Good Lord…
I just looked up the Selfish Giant and found the whole thing here: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/SelGia.shtml
Now I’m crying at work.
Thank you for giving me another beautiful story to share with my little guy (I may have to wait a few months to a year, though; he’s still a bit young to get it)!!!
Well, if the Selfish Giant makes you cry, you wouldn’t want to miss the Happy Prince. http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/HapPri.shtml
AMDG
I used to love The Magic Pebble when I was a kid. Also, Thorin’s farewelll speech to Bilbo makes me choke up every tone I read The Hobbit to the kids. (Yes, they have already heard it more than once, all the way through over the course of many bedtimes.)
The Giving Tree is a maddeningly horrible book, Love you Forever is super creepy, and Big Brown Hastohavehtelastword Daddy Hare from Guess How Much I Love You is just obnoxious. “A Small Miracle” by Peter Collington is a book about love that blows me away every time I “read” it (there are no words, just the most wonderful illustrations of a nativity set that comes to life in order to give a beautiful Christmas to the penniless old gypsy woman who rescued them and the church’s collection for the poor from a burglar).
Devra ,
:)
I like “Love You Forever *despite* what I see as the implausible and bizarre idea of a mother creeping into the child’s room every night to hold him while he sleeps. What I love about it, aside from the chronicling of rotten destructive things the beloved child does to frustrate his mother, is the way the SON holds his mother at the end and sings to HER, when she is very old and dying. That is why I read the book to my kids…to plant the seed and comfort myself with the idea that maybe one of them will turn out good enough to come back when I am decrepit and alone.
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Another book about love that gives me pangs is The Steadfast Tin Soldier.
We have this version:
http://www.amazon.com/Steadfast-Soldier-Hans-Christian-Andersen/dp/1596793465/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344611499&sr=1-3&keywords=steadfast+tin+soldier
and I get choked up every time. Though I can see how, if you weren’t Catholic it might seem like a weirdo story.
One of my favorite books when I was a child: Alexander http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Harold-Littledale/dp/0819300861/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344612584&sr=1-5&keywords=alexander
My second favorite was Too Much Noise by Ann McGovern but there’s no parental love in that one. :)
I had no idea people didn’t like The Giving Tree! That was always my favorite. I was so proud the first time I read the whole thing by myself.
So, in conclusion: Nana, nana, boo, boo! The Giving Tree was my favorite book and I’m commenting as such even though you said not to and there’s nothing you can do about it so there!!
I love “Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.” Few children’s books capture the ache of longing so well, and the joy of reunion, which Sendak wisely leaves to the readers’ imaginations.
And I loved the Giving Tree as a child, and saw the ending as the boy finally wising up. But after becoming a parent, it did sort of read like an instruction book for co-dependency and/or abusive relationships. :)
I just have to plug ‘The Maggie B’—-a girl has an (imaginary) adventure on a boat for a day and brings “someone nice for company” (her brother)
@Peter Turner,
They’re supposed to make you cry. Simcha will explain why in a future blog.
I always liked ‘The Ransom of Red Chief’ by O Henry, probably because the kid wasn’t mine but lived next door.
The Clown of God makes me tear up, too! The Ox-Cart Man always makes me think about familial love although it doesn’t ever talk about love in the text.
I teach children’s literature and almost all of my students LOVE The Giving Tree and Love You Forever. When I tell my class I don’t like those books, the gasps of shock are universal.
Then I rub salt in the wounds by telling them I don’t like The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
My favorite book about love from when I was a young kid was Let’s Be Enemies, by Janice May Udry, illustrated by Maurice Sendak.
The Clown of God! YES!!!
OK, none of these are going to be THAT good, but fwiw:
Timothy Turtle
The Whiskers of Ho Ho (both are gorgeously illustrated, to boot)
Baucis and Philemon (retelling of Ovid. I can’t remember which version we used to have; I’m sure there are treacly ones out there, but ours was GOOD!)
Fiona and the Dwarf
Casperl and the Princess (both fairy tales)
@priest’s wife: thanks for the reminder. The sister in Maggie B is priceless—a lovely soul unpacked in a few pages of excellent illustrations.
What a coincidence. I just got a notice from the library that Ferdinand is waiting form me to pick it up. I thought it was time my kids were introduced to it.
I love the Wild Swans and Clown of God. I only have the vaguest memories of Tikki Tikki Tembo and I don’t think I know Five Chinese Brothers. I guess I’m going to be adding those to my library request list too.
Another great book about love and sacrifice is The Legend of the Bluebonnets by Tomie de Paola. That one always makes me choke up. And I very much agree about The Selfish Giant. I can never read the end of that without choking up.
I once sat through an entire powerpoint sermon based on the Giving Tree. The horrors! Never fear, I was Baptist at the time. So glad to be Catholic, where even the most modernist of priests gives nod to the Scripture in the homily, and of course we hear the Holy Scriptures themselves, without fail.
Not to be a total sycophant, but I just made a wish list on Amazon named “Simcha’s Recommendations—use her links!!”, since we get overwhelmed when it’s time to Christmas shop for children, and I don’t want to forget to do my part to prevent the Fishers from having an “Imagination Christmas” or whatever you called it. :)
Oh, man, that’s GREAT! Thank you.
I once heard a talk by author Brennan Manning who said he was childhood friends with Shel Silverstein. According to Mr. Manning, Mr. Silverstein was Jewish and converted to Christianity as an adult. When asked what it was about Jesus that would make him convert, He wrote The Giving Tree to explain how he viewed Christ. I love Tikki Tikki Tembo and Clown of God. I’m going to go request the rest of the recommendations at the library. And as always, Simcha, thank you for making me laugh.
Do not miss Clown of God and be sure to get The Year of the Blackbird, also by Tomie dePaolo, an outpouring of love from birth to death. And Ferdinand is a book that can get me out of a bad mood. Love the illustrations—just calms me. One of the best lessons in the Five Chinese Brothers is that the kids know straight away that the little boy was foolish and his demise was self-inflicted. Giving Tree…bleck, bleck and more bleck.
The Littlest Angel, 1st Edition [Hardcover]
Charles Tazewell (Author), Katherine Evans (Illustrator)
****************************************
I saw this on Amazon.It was the edition I had as a child.Much sweeter illustrations than the newer version.I loved it when I was little.I think the message was about giving your best for love, even if all you had was very humble.
Most of these books sound hideous especially that one about some old clown. The only one of them I have even heard of is the Wild Swans which I will admit I loved though I think I preferred the Grimms Fairy Tales to the Hans Christian Andersen ones. All I can say is thank God for Enid Blyton and the Famous Five. My mother never read me a child’s book in her life. I remember sitting at the age of 4 or 5 on her bed while she read Pilgims Progress to us. I didn’t understand much but it certainly evoked alot of imagery in my mind of horrid scary dark places (i always associate it with the Valley of the Shadow of Death) with a knight with a red cross. Then there was the King James Bible and all the famous poets, Dickens, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen etc. She obviously didn’t believe in dumbing one down with trite children’s literature I could do that by myself once I learnt to read. And even at high school we tended in those days to only do ‘great’ literature not these written for teenager books that teachers are forced to teach today. O I forgot my mother also read Shakespeare’s King Lear to me when I was in primary school. Of course I also read all the CS Lewis novels (the Narnia ones and the Out of the Silent Planet ones and Tolkiens’ Lord of the Rings before I was 12.
@Brother Gilbert: hmm, let’s see. It’s almost 6 p.m. here, so it can’t be anywhere NEAR cocktail hour in Australia. Are you just having a bad day, or what?
AHhh! I love love love The Clown of God and Ferdinand the Bull… I would also add the original story of The Little Mermaid (never the Disney!!!), where the mermaid wants to become human, not out of love for a man, but out of a desire to have a human soul… and then when the Prince falls in love with another woman, and the witch says she can still live as a human if she kills him, she instead sacrifices herself and then, and then….
Lol. No its six in the morning and I am just about to go to bed as I take the late night Adoration shift. But must say a cocktail or at least chicken with champagne breakfast sounds good.As we live on donated food that a far fetched fantasy.
I am probably a little gaga with over tiredness at the moment but loving it (I keep getting the giggles). And I really do hate clowns-they are vile and hideous creatures even that one in Swan Lake (the Ballet) gives me the creeps. As for stories about people looking to be human- I’d like to ask Colleen what is so great about wanting to be human????? I’ve been one now for -for -for let us say awhile and I don’t see what you see in it. though I am a hypocrite as I am going to see the Ballet of Pinnochio (a stupid puppet that wants to be a real boy- whatever that is???)with my cousin next month (she has 6 kids and we are not taking any of them with us-YAY!!!! O dear thats a comment for your other article on babyland- at least you know I am reading them.- Am I starting to rave now…..better go to bed
“A Small Miracle” by Peter Collington. It is beautifully illustrated which is good because there are no words. The artist tells the story of a poor gypsy lady who is robbed, but then rescued by a nativity set come to life. There is no possible way to tell this story (which you have to do because of the no words thing) without bawling. We take this out of the library throughout the year. Beautiful.
I really enjoyed by Bill Pete as a kid. Great stories and wonderfully illustrated:
Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent
Smokey
Chester the Worldy Pig
Randy’s Dandy Lions
Here is his website:
http://www.billpeet.net/
I am with you bt. Bill Peet (who was a driving force behind disney’s sword and the stone) is amazing! He was read to us as kids, and I am currently reading them to my 5 year old - with my 12 yo nephew peeking over at the stories. Nothing explains bravery clearer than Cowardly Clyde.
I also love the Maggie B, but I always thought that was because its my sister, Maggie’s, special book.
The one I discovered as an adult is “the Runaway Bunny” and only because I saw the movie wit and fell in love with it right then. I would recommend both.
I am an avid children’s book reader and am trying to think of my favorites about love, but since I started typing I am fending off a tantruming toddler, so I somehow cannot recall books about how I love my kids
The Kitchen Madonna by Rumer Godden. A beautifully written story about a young boy and a wonderful gift. Not a picture book though - I’m not sure how I would categorize it, though it is intended for children.
I also love The Clown of God (and pretty much everything by dePaula), the original Little Mermaid (though my 7 yo says it is ‘too sad, Mama’ after I insisted we read it before he be allowed near the Disney version), and I admit I love the simplicity of the familial love in the Little Bear books by Maurice Sendak.
Oh, and Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel! The friendship in those books is so touching and well done, like in the story where Toad loses a button and Frog spends the whole day finding (wrong) buttons while Toad gets more and more grumpy…then when he realizes his button was in his house the whole time Toad sews all the found buttons on his jacket and gives it to Frog as a gift. :-)
Five Chinese Brothers??? I hated this book as a child. No, I don’t think it is racist (my family is Chinese) but it is so creepy. The worst is the picture of the first brother trying to hold the sea in his mouth. It is definitely not a cheerful book. How can this be included in a list with such good books???
@Marie - Two of my kids were really frightened by the Five Chinese Brothers. I remember having a weird fascination with it myself, but I didn’t read it until I was in first grade.
.
And the Selfish Giant! I had forgotten about that one. I’ll definitely get that one now.
The Story of Ping is a great book about belonging and love.
Thank you for that last paragraph. I have always had a bad taste in my mouth about all those “loveyouloveyouloveyou” books. Kids want to know why we love them, anyway, which a book can never say.
Oh, I love love love “Ferdinand”, and “The Wild Swans”. “Ferdinand” was the perfect book for one son who is a gentle soul—strong in doing right and resisting evil, but does not want to fight. It was refreshing to find a book about a gentle but strong male figure, even though he was a bull.
What about “Make Way for Ducklings”? The ducklings are a model family. Lots of love there.
I really like the giving tree. I see it as a self less love of a parent type figure. Even though a kid can be rotten doesn’t mean the parent ever stops loving can caring for the child. I’ll be interested to read your article as to why you despise it so much! Thank you for all of the wonderful reading recommendations!
My favorite is “No matter what” by Debi Gliori.
I would love it anyway, but in our particular situation even more. My nephew died just at 4 months old, my own baby was just a week old and it has been very therapeutic to read aloud the last pages, the little fox asks his mom if she would still love him if he was far and the mom says “love never dies” it’s really beautiful and I really think all the kids in the family had this unspoken question, what if *I* died and knowing you will always be loved is the kind of immortality that anyone longs for.
Simcha,
I believe that what our children (now ages 55 to 47) remember best are the nonsense poems from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there”.
Our oldest had a teaching assignment in his early 20s, and when a disciplinary problem occurred in class (middle school ages) would assign the errant pupil to memorize one of the Lewis Carroll poems for the next day’s class.
For very beginning readers, Sandra Boynton had several books with very large print, and rhyming schemes “The cow says ‘Moo!”; the sheep says ‘Baa!’. Three singing pigs say ‘La, La La!’, etc.
Some of these were also used when we had grandchildren overnight.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to reminisce.
TeaPot562
A wonderful book that I could absolutely never get through reading to my children without choking up is Gloria Houston’s The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, about a family in Appalachia and their preparations for Christmas with the father away at war (World War 1). It’s beautifully illustrated by Barbara Cooney:
http://tinyurl.com/9ux3b7d
...oh, and the Shirley Hughes book Dogger is a lovely story of sibling love:
http://tinyurl.com/clhckg7
If I might suggest another title: The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes” is a fabulous story about a mother’s love (manifesting itself in a big family), and Easter. The bunny wants to be an Easter Bunny when she grows up, then she gets married and has 21 children and the other rabbits “laughed at her and said, ‘Only a country bunny would go and have so many babies.’” She is chosen to be an Easter Bunny (it’s a whole thing), because her management of her house (actually teaching her children to manage it for her so she can be temporarily absent to do other work) sets her apart as wise, brave,... fast. There’s a lot more too, but it’s extremely charming, I didn’t find it saccharine, and is definitely about love, perseverance, and doing the impossible through grace. As a child I loved this book.
Ok, not a book, but great film about love-maybe for older kids “Under the Same Moon.”
I just saw the DVD on the shelf at the library & thought about this thread.
Absolutely have to second The Country Bunny and the Little Golden Shoes! Such a wonderful story of a brave, loving mother, who is “not only fast, but wise…not only swift, but brave.”
I always tear up at the scene where she (spoiler!) breaks her leg after falling down the mountain on her final mission, and the Grandfather Easter Bunny appears to her. Like our Father in Heaven, he sees her love and tenacity, not her failure, and the little golden shoes are the grace that take her to the top of the mountain after all…
Did you know the “Country Bunny” book’s author ,Dubose Heyward,also wrote the book & play used for Gershwin’s “Porgy & Bess?”
I didn’t, but saw his name when I looked up the book on Amazon.
Thank you all for the book recommendations.I’ll add some to my Christmas list for grandbabies.
How about the Frances books by Russell Hoban? I believe they are out of print, but should be available at the library.
I hate The Giving Tree just. so. much.
Ten years ago, my husband gave our oldest son a copy of that book, with the inscription, “I love you just like this.”
Except he had just moved out two months prior, to live with his 22 year old girlfriend, leaving me at home with our three boys, ages 6, 3, and 4 months old.
Maybe he meant he was the boy, and we were the tree?
OH, it still makes me mad. I should be over this by now, shouldn’t I?
I agree about Ferdinand. I love to read it, and my children love to listen to it. We have a wide range of Tomie dePaola books that we all enjoy. One of my favorites is The Wind in the Willows. I know it’s not a quick bedtime story read, but it’s great for reading aloud over time.
I was just about to write “The Kitchen Madonna” when I saw someone beat me to it. Also, “The Country Bunny”. Such good memories.
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