Rabbit and Bear: Rabbit's Bad Habits: Book 1

Product Information

It’s important to refer back to the design sheet as you find the character shifts and changes when you draw it lots of times. And I wanted to do something quite hard: to combine the charm and humour and complicated, funny, interesting characters of Winnie the Pooh with the weird, different-kind-of-interesting, real-life facts of David Attenborough’s wildlife documentaries. At one point, a third friendly, boring animal arrived, just to give the illustrator something new to draw (she must have been getting bored too). From novelist and playwright Julian Gough, and the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, Jim Field, this is a tale of Mystery!

This is an ideal series for children progressing from picture books - there are plenty of illustrations to accompany satisfying storylines. Does Wolf have the answer to the bad king’s demands … or will Rabbit and the other animals find the solution within themselves? Jim Field: ‘I then developed this character sheet which was really useful to keep the character consistent throughout the book. She enjoyed it enormously, but, of course, it wasn’t perfect (because nothing is perfect, especially the very rough first try at a story).You couldn’t tell any of the animals apart: they all talked the same, and acted the same, and were nice and friendly to each other, until the book ended, or the reader died of boredom, whichever came first. She laughed at the good bits, frowned at the bad bits, and, at one point (while I was reading her the latest version of a funny scene), burst into tears. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives.

Jim Field: ‘Julian suggested making Bear more of a mother character, actually his description was more “a Big Mumma” so I made her bigger boned and rounded the design more than the previous bears.

I had to get the story as good as I could get it, before my agent could look for a publisher, and get an award-winning, genius illustrator like Jim to bring it to life.

Everyone I know is complicated and sometimes nice and sometimes nasty and sometimes friendly and sometimes angry and sometimes sulky and sometimes funny and sometimes stupid and sometimes clever and always interesting. Rabbit is confused: Bear has always been able to fix their problems in the past – but maybe this time he needs to ask for help from someone else. Gorgeously illustrated and with a classic feel, this is a brilliantly funny story of a rabbit and a bear whose friendship is tested by a very noisy woodpecker … Ideal for readers moving on from picture books.Gorgeously illustrated and with a classic feel, this is a brilliantly funny story of a rabbit and a bear … on the day that a new creature arrives in their valley, trying to Change Everything. You’ll find yourself drawn to this book again and again, reading it alone or sharing with others, always finding something new to behold and enjoy between its pages. Jim Field: ‘This was the rabbit design that “stuck”, it captured his grumpy qualities and it felt like he had plenty of scope for further characterisation. Anyway, it was a picture book about a nice, friendly, perfectly boring rabbit and a nice, friendly, perfectly boring bear. Dealing with themes of purpose, loss, grief, depression, the book brings its reader along for the ride, letting them know that finding and sharing light is not only possible, but probable with the help of friends and insight.

The next book in the bestselling series for newly independent readers with these laugh-out-loud tales of friendship, adventure and a little bit of poo! And, finally – with her help – I think I found a way to combine Winnie the Pooh, and wildlife documentaries. But of course it took AN INCREDIBLY LONG TIME to get from our rough and scruffy bedtime story to the finished book ( Rabbit’s Bad Habits, which was finally published this year with Jim Field’s amazing pictures). Rabbit’s Bad Habits is a breath of fresh air in children’s fiction, a laugh-out-loud story of rabbit and wolf and bear, of avalanches and snowmen.From novelist and playwright Julian Gough, and the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, Jim Field, this is a story of friends, enemies, and how to avoid being pooped on by an icebear. Animals wee on the carpet sometimes, and sniff each other’s bottoms ALL the time, and chew the furniture. The sort of story that makes you want to send your children to bed early, so you can read it to them.