Aug 12, 2008

Rabbits

A Pet's Life
by Anita Ganeri

Another book read with my daughter in our research on pets. Rabbits is a very simple book, along the same lines as Goldfish. It's fairly informative for a four-year-old, and quite charming. The bunnies all look very cute and bright-eyed. There were two points where I was left questioning, though. At one point the book stated "Rabbits can have lots of babies. It is best not to let them breed." Bold words are defined in the book. But when I glanced at the short glossary, the definition for breed was a "type or kind of animal". Probably no little kids would care about this kind of error, but it bugged me. At another point the book said that it's not a good idea to keep a rabbit with a guinea pig. It doesn't say why. Do they fight? Compete for food? Does it just mean don't keep them in the same cage? Can they pass diseases to each other? Now I'm curious.

Rating: 3/5                32 pages, 2003

8 comments:

  1. Does your daughter want a bunny after reading this book? We had a guinea pig when we were little because it was the only pet my dad would allow at the time--really wasn't all that fun. :) We got two kitties one weekend when he was out of town and they were much more fun (he was only upset for a little bit--what could he do with three little daughters?) :)

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  2. She still likes the idea of hamsters the best. I must have read the hamster book to her five times by now!

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  3. Anonymous8/13/2008

    Cute book. Let us know if you find out what's up between rabbits and guinea pigs...

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  4. I did find out. (Thanks to google!) Rabbits and guinea pigs have different dietary needs, so they can't share food. Also, rabbits will bully guinea pigs, and male rabbits will attempt to mate with female guinea pigs and harass them. And rabbits can give guinea pigs disease too. Everything I had suspected and more. Sounds like it's best to keep them separate!

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  5. Anonymous8/15/2008

    Yikes! I never learned stuff like this reading Beatrix Potter...

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  6. Who would have imagined such shameful behavior from cute little bunnies? I almost wish I didn't know!

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