Banned Book!

Rabbit Hill, one of my childhood favorites, will not be part of the St. Francis lesson plan this year. The boys are still traumatized from my decision, about two years ago, to read them the last chapter. When I got to that part with the statue of St. Francis and the mole who asks the rabbit(?) to ‘be his eyes’ and the rabbit(?) tells him about the good Saint and how there is plenty for all......well, I found myself with tears running down my cheeks. I don’t know if I was touched by the story all over again or suffering from a burst of nostalgia. Whatever it was, it scared the boys. I am not particularly sentimental nor lachrymose. At some point they stopped paying attention to the story and started wondering what was wrong with this whole thing that it made Mom cry. (Especially since I introduced it as a ‘cute’ and fun book.)

Now Rabbit Hill is on the banned literature list. Along with a few other poems that make me weep. The banned literature list is by request of the children...as in “If you must read that, please don’t read it aloud in front of us. It’s too....weird.)