From Ziggy’s friend, Philippa.

There is something very important about Ziggy Rabbit that many people do not know. Her great great great grandfather was Brer Rabbit. Some children may have heard of Brer Rabbit, and some may not. He was one of the most artful rabbits that ever lived. There are all sorts of stories about him, in lots of different books. One that Ziggy has been reading lately is called:

The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit, as told by Julian Lester - ISBN: 0-330-313754

If you have rather a dry sense of humour you will like these stories a lot. Do you know what a dry sense of humour is?

This is what it says in the Cambridge dictionary, online.

Dry humour is very amusing in a way which is clever and not loud or obvious.

Brer Rabbit stories are just full of dry humour. This is what one of them is about:

Brer Bear lay in wait for Brer Rabbit. He was planning to pounce on him and steal his basket. Brer Bear knew that Brer Rabbit had been to the shops and he thought the basket would be full of delicious food.

Brer Rabbit was too clever for him though. He’d seen Brer Bear lying in wait and he’d filled his basket with old nails and screws, instead of food. When he came close to Brer Bear he let out a terrible shout and then he threw his basket into the river. Then he shouted ‘Brer Bear! I’ve thrown all my food in the river. You’re not having any of it!’

Of course Brer Bear immediately rushed into the river to grab it, and Brer Rabbit ran off laughing. Poor Brer Bear! He was absolutely soaking wet, and shivering with cold, and he had no supper at all that night, as he couldn’t eat nails and screws. Mind you, it served him right really for trying to steal someone else’s supper!

This is a brilliant book and Ziggy really recommends it. It can be read aloud to anyone over the age of five, and older children will enjoy reading it on their own.

Ziggy Rabbit has inherited all Brer Rabbit’s cleverness. That’s just as well because there are several characters who live close to her who might want to eat her, or steal her shopping! One is a fox called Fashion-Face. Fashion-Face is a fox who likes pretty things and enjoys dressing up. She flirts and flounces but no one can trust that sweet feminine appearance. Believe you me… underneath it she is lethal!

If she is smiling at a sweet little animal like Ziggy she is probably thinking what a delicious meal she’d make, or how beautiful her fur would be if it was made into a scarf or a muff. (Rabbit’s fur is always quite pretty, but Ziggy’s fur of course is amazing, with magic purple and blue lines.) Fashion-Face would love some gloves, and perhaps a scarf made in fur like that!

Ziggy has to use every trick she can think of to make sure that Fashion-Face doesn’t catch her and eat her for supper. Anyway… next week Ziggy will talk to you herself. She is going to dictate her diary to me and once a fortnight we will pick out the most interesting bits to put in her blog, for you all to read. Oh! She’s pushing me out the way!!… Wait a bit Ziggy! Next week!…

Posted: Friday, August 29th, 2008 @ 5:40 pm
Categories: Uncategorized.
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