Rabbitmitten

To help her young grandson Billy learn the importance of believing in yourself, a Michigan grandmother tells him a fantastical story about a rabbit named Yoopie. Yoopie is relentlessly made fun of by his neighbors for keeping a “useless strange fuzzy red thing” (a mitten) that he finds in the meadow. Later, when the weather turns horrifically cold for the first time ever and Yoopies’s strange find becomes extremely important, his neighbors become apologetic. In order to apologize for their meanness, they decide to honor him by building a gigantic rabbit and mitten (the future State of Michigan!) in “The Big Water.” In the end, Yoopie and his painfully shy female counterpart Trolletta learn the importance of believing in yourself – as does Billy.

35 full-color illustrations by Andy Shaw.