TiNY CLUB: The Rabbit Listened

Our August Tiny Club book of the month is Cori Doerrfeld’s The Rabbit Listened. We love this book for many reasons: it gives a realistic look at grief and loss from a child’s perspective; shows the importance of friendship and listening; and provides hope that things will get better. We encourage you to listen to the reading with the children in your life, then walk through the discussion questions together. Next week, we’ll have another Tiny Club activity themed around the book.

Vocabulary Words:

Amazing: Really, really good and wonderful.
Proud: Feeling deep satisfaction, pleasure, and happiness over something you did or something someone you know did. Taylor was proud of their block structure!
Sad: An unhappy and sorrowful emotion. Taylor was sad when their block structure was destroyed. It’s okay to be sad sometimes.
Shame: In some cases, shame means to feel embarrassed and regretful over your actions. In this case, though, shame is used to mean an unfortunate, bad, or sad situation.
Angry: To be annoyed, displeased, and mad. Taylor was also angry when their block structure was destroyed. It’s okay to be angry sometimes.
Listen: To pay attention to what someone is saying. Taylor felt better when the rabbit listened.
Healing: Sometimes healing means to become physically healthy again, like when a scrape heals or when we recover from a cold. Sometimes healing means to feel better emotionally – for our sadness to start to go away and happiness to come back. At the end of the story, Taylor’s sadness and anger started to go away be replaced with hope.
Hope: To know that sad times won’t last forever, and that good things are ahead.

Discussion Questions:

What happened to Taylor’s blocks?
How did that make Taylor feel?
Have you ever felt that way?
How did Taylor’s animal friends try to help?
Who was the best animal friend? How did they help?
What makes you feel better when you’re sad?
What did Taylor do at the end of the story?

Want to learn more about the many animals mentioned in The Rabbit Listened? Visit us in person through August 15th for fun animal-themed art, maker, and science activities!