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Ginger ISBN: 9780141309484
Mattingley, Christobel and Power, Margaret
Published by Puffin (Bites series), 2000
Hugo loves his rabbit Ginger. His sister Harriet has two rabbits, Snowdrop and Tomboy, and the family also has two dogs and two cats, but Hugo loves Ginger best. When the family goes to their country home for the weekend, the rabbits and dogs go too, but tragedy strikes. Dad, who has fed the rabbits, has left the latch loose on the hutch, and Ginger and Tomboy are killed by the farm dogs. There is a harrowing scene where dad and Hugo find the torn bodies, and the descriptions of the children's hurt and horror are very realistic. The parents are loving and supportive, and after the pets are buried, the family leave to go back to town. Harriet and Hugo refuse the offer of new rabbits, but there is a happy ending when Snowdrop produces babies, one of which is ginger. The tender, black and white drawings add greatly to a short (64 pages),well-written story, but it might be best for a bit of time to elapse before this is used with a grieving child. The descriptions are very graphic.
Age: 6+
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