A small rabbit is thinking about the Winter Moon Song the rabbits all sing “to lighten the darkest month of the year with a trail of magic.” They perform it in a grand indoor space. “The gleaming windows shut out the night. Candles flickered everywhere… The age-old song began.” Out in the cold air after the performance, the little rabbit starts singing the song again as he thinks it should be sung, “under the winter moon.” Others join in. “And when the song was over and everyone gazed up at the rabbit-in-the-moon, they all felt that they were not separate or lonely but part of one great rabbit family.” Martha Brooks’s lovely writing takes its time, offering lyrical, concrete descriptions. It also creates space for readers and listeners to think, just as the young rabbit does, about the purpose and meaning of traditions, which can be living, changing things. Gorgeous watercolor and ink illustrations serve as the backdrop to an original story that draws from the tradition of Moon Rabbit creation tales, including the one a Lakota elder told to the author that inspired this variation. (Ages 5–9)

Have you ever seen the rabbit-in-the-moon? Folktales from many cultures explain how the rabbit came to be there. When award-winning novelist Martha Brooks heard one such tale, she was inspired to write her own lovely story about a little rabbit who finds a special way to brighten the darkest month of the year.

A little rabbit asks his mother how the shape of a rabbit came to be on the moon. She tells him the story of Great Mother Creator Rabbit, who came down to earth to see how her creatures lived. Finding herself cold and hungry, she built a fire, placing a stewpot on top. Another rabbit, seeing her predicament, took it upon himself to save her and jumped into the pot. But before he could perish, Great Mother Rabbit tossed him up into the moon.

The little rabbit’s mother explains that this is why all the rabbits now gather to hear the choir sing “Winter Moon Song,” to bring light and a little magic at the darkest time of the year.

The next night all the rabbits gather to hear the ancient song, and the little rabbit takes his place in the choir. But at the end of the performance, he feels a little disappointed. It had been beautiful, but did not seem all that special, and certainly not magic.

In the wintry air outside the gathering place, the little rabbit looks up at the rabbit-in-the-moon and is suddenly inspired to sing the song once more, very tentatively at first, and then more courageously. Some of the other rabbits, even the old ones, join in; some are moved to tears. And in singing the song anew, they realize the joy in being one great rabbit family.

Leticia Ruifernandez has graced the story with her tender illustrations.

Includes an author’s note.