My Friend Rabbit: A Lesson in Service
By Amy Bangerter

aaaaEric Rohmann's Caldecott Award-winning children's book, My Friend Rabbit, is the story of two friends and a mess. Mouse lets his best friend, Rabbit, fly his new airplane. Rabbit, "even though he means well," promptly flies the airplane into a tree. If that weren't bad enough, Rabbit's not-too-well-thought-out plan for extracting the airplane makes most of the neighboring animals angry at the pair as well. Even though Mouse's troubles keep getting bigger due to Rabbit's continued involvement, at the end of the story, Mouse decides to rescue his friend, though he probably deserves to be left to his own fate.
aaaaSo what does this story have to do with service? If you define service as a formal endeavor in which time, money, or talents are donated in an organized fashion, not much. However, if you think about service as an opportunity to give others the benefit of the doubt, to practice patience, or to forgive others when they are less than perfect, this story has everything to do with service. Through this entertaining tale, Mouse teaches children that service is helping others, not just when it is convenient or reciprocal or fair, but when it is inconvenient and even a bit dangerous! The story teaches children that service equals friendship.
aaaaThis story also teaches parents how to be more giving of service to their children. I can't number the times I have been impatient with my children's less-than-perfect efforts, nor should I number them. What is good parenting if it isn't having compassion for our children's efforts? So whenever I am wiping, fixing, or even crying because of something one of my boys has tried to do, I think of Rohmann's story and of Mouse's predicament, and then life doesn't seem so bad: at least there are no angry crocodiles after me.

Check out these other excellent books by Eric Rohmann:

Time Flies (1994)
The Cinder-Eyed Cat (1997)
Clara and Asha (2005)