Dick Gackenbach

Hattie Rabbit stars in two stories in this Early I Can Read Book from author/illustrator Dick Gackenbach, learning a few lessons along the way. In Wishes for Hattie, our leporine heroine wishes her mother had all kinds of physical features—the feet of a chicken, the neck of a giraffe, the trunk of an elephant—but eventually concludes her own mother is best, just as she is. In Open for Business, Hattie scams all of her friends for money, winding up with 25 cents but no more friends. Deciding to make restitution, she buys everyone some peanut brittle...

The first of five early readers to feature Hattie and her friends and family, Hattie Rabbit was published in 1976, and features two winsome tales, each of which teaches a simple lesson with minimal fanfare. Hattie discovers that what we wish for in the moment might not be the best things for us, and that those around us don't need to be dramatically altered to have value in the first story; while in the second story she learns that scamming others out of money might result in short-term gain, but that having money doesn't lead to happiness. I found the narrative here engaging and amusing, and I appreciated the somewhat cartoon-like illustrations, with the limited brown and blue color washes. Recommended to anyone seeking beginning readers with fun stories and a message.… (more)