Reading The Rabbit Listened with My Daughter

The Rabbit Listened is a lovely pictorial children’s book by Cori Doerrfeld. My sister shared a PDF version of the book, and when I began reading it on my laptop, my 2.5-year-old daughter joined in. So, I read it aloud to her and explained as we went along. She connected with the illustrations; it was wonderful to see her expressions change along with the little protagonist Taylor’s emotions. The illustrations are simple and gentle. Taylor reminded me of my nephew Atharva, who is always up to building something. I have read books earlier to my daughter, but this book in particular made me understand how deeply children can feel and understand stories.

The story is about little Taylor, who decides to build a structure that is new and amazing. After he builds it, unfortunately, it collapses when birds fly near it. He feels heartbroken. Different animals visit Taylor and try to comfort him in their own ways. For instance, the chicken nudges him to talk about it, bear says, ‘let’s shout about it,’ elephant suggests rebuilding if he remembers it, kangaroo wants to clean up, hyena says, ‘let’s laugh about it,’ and the snake suggests destroying someone else’s creation! But Taylor did not feel like doing any of these things, so none of the animals stayed, they all left. Taylor was left feeling sad and alone.

Then came the rabbit. He did not talk, he simply sat beside Taylor, close enough until Taylor could feel the rabbit’s warmth. Taylor asks the rabbit to stay by his side, and slowly Taylor starts talking, shouting, and laughing. Eventually, Taylor wishes to build again. The rabbit just listened and stayed by his side.

The story conveys that simply being present and listening can be enough to help someone feel better. It also shows that everyone’s feelings are important and can vary. Maybe the reactions of the hyena, elephant, kangaroo, chicken, and bear reflect their personalities.

For adults, the story may seem simple, but if we look deeper, it’s about being there for someone who is upset. For children, Taylor’s emotions are relatable, they may feel like he is one of them. They learn that being present for someone is a meaningful form of support and showing empathy. Children’s books or Aesop’s fables for that matter, all of them teach us how to live, behave or advocate morals through storytelling. These stories help shape good citizens out of young children.

Overall, this story reminds us that simply being present and listening can be enough to help someone feel better. Never mind if you are an adult, go ahead and read it. It takes hardly 10 minutes but can bring joy and comfort that lasts much longer.

Sometimes, listening matters more than words!