The Runaway Bunny

"The Runaway Bunny" is a 1942 picture book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. The plot deals with a small rabbit, who wants to run away. His mother, however, tells him that "if you run away, I will run after you".

The book has been in print continuously from the date of publication as of 2007.

This book is the first in Brown and Hurd's "classic series," which also includes "Goodnight Moon" and "My World". The picture of a cow jumping over the moon, which features prominently in "Goodnight Moon", first appeared in "The Runaway Bunny". A copy of "The Runaway Bunny" appears in "Goodnight Moon", as does the illustration of the mother fishing for the bunny child. The three books have been published together as a collection titled "Over the Moon".

The closing line of the book ("'Have a carrot,' said the mother bunny.") was added after Ursula Nordstrom, the director of Harper's Department of Books for Boys and Girls, told Brown that the ending needed work. The line was cabled in to Harper's from Maine, where Brown was on vacation. ("Dear Genius", 5, footnote.) There have been two different final illustrations for this book.

A violin concerto based on the book was recently released by Sony/BMG featuring the narration performed by Brooke Shields. The concerto was premiered at Carnegie Hall with Glen Roven, the composer, conducting the American Symphony Orchestra with Glenn Close narrating

The book is also featured in the ending of the play and movie "Wit", when the protagonist's former professor reads it to her as she nears death, noting that the story can be read as an allegory of the soul being pursued by God.

David Letterman has mentioned this is one of his favorite books to read to his son Harry.

Sources

Nordstrom, Ursula. "Dear Genius: the letters of Ursula Nordstrom" ed. Leonard S. Marcus. New York: HarperCollins, 1998.

Marcus, Leonard. "Margaret Wise Brown, Awakened by the Moon" Boston:Beacon Press. 1992.

[http://www.runawaybunnyconcerto.com The Official Website for "The Runaway Bunny, A Concerto For Violin, Reader and Orchestra"]