It’s late at night but little Willa Rabbit can’t go to sleep. What if she has nightmares? Her big brother Willoughby has the bunk above hers, and she calls out to him. He advises her to think of something happy, and then she won’t have nightmares. Like what, she asks.
Patiently, Willoughby talks to her about all the things she has to look forward to the next day. Putting on her chicken slippers, wearing her blue and white jumper, eating a delicious breakfast, playing with her toys – tomorrow will be a beautiful day. Then he takes her to the window and shows her the night outside, the night which is waiting for the morning to come, clear around the world. The morning is waiting too, for nature to wake up and all the birds to sing, and the sun to shine. Using soothing words, Willoughby paints a word picture for Willa, building excitement within her to face a new day and all the adventures in it. “Those are all happy things,” she tells him.
Then Willoughby tells her that there is just one sad thing. She’s not asleep yet, and it’sm morning’s favorite thing to wake her up. She doesn’t want morning to be sad, does she?
Realizing that she’s tired, Willa makes her way to her little bed to find that her teddy bear is there, waiting for her. That’s another happy thing. She climbs into bed, realizing that the happiest thing of all is that she has a brother who loves her.
My favorite part of this book is the illustrations. In the first place, I’ve always been a rabbit lover, and these rabbits are particularly adorable. But the illustrator pulls out all the stops. She has dressed them in flannel pajamas, which are too cute for words, and then given Willa some darling facial expressions. Picture a little rabbit yawning, a little rabbit sitting on her bed, knees pulled up to her chest, looking worried. Picture her pulling her ears down across her eyes when she thinks about having a nightmare. Every picture makes you want to scoop these rabbits up and snuggle with them.
I also appreciated the patience Willoughby shows toward his little sister. He could have told her to shut up and go to sleep, but instead he takes the time to talk with her about her fears and assures her that she is loved. What a great role model for all the brothers out there.
My only complaint – this is a difficult book to read aloud because of the similarities of the names Willoughby and Willa, and the names are repeated often. While reading this to my children, I found my tongue stumbling over itself. I solved the problem by slowing way down, but I do still wish that the names were different. Oh, well – the sweetness of the story more than makes up for that.
(This book was published in 1998 by Doubleday and was illustrated by Debi Gliori.)
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