X-Book

Fierce Bad Rabbits

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.
How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

What is The Tiger Who Came to Tea really about?
What has Meg and Mog got to do with Polish embroidery?
Why is death in picture books so often represented by being eaten?

Fierce Bad Rabbits takes us on an eye-opening journey in a pea-green boat through the history of picture books. From Edward Lear through to Julia Donaldson, Clare Pollard shines a light on some of our best-loved childhood stories and what they really mean, weaving in tales from her own childhood and her re-readings as a parent. Because the best picture books are far more complex than they seem - and darker too. Monsters can gobble up children and go unnoticed, power is not always used wisely, and the wild things are closer than you think. Sparkling with wit, magic and nostalgia, Fierce Bad Rabbits will make you see even stories you've read a hundred times afresh.

Critics Review

When I read Fierce Bad Rabbits, I thought, why has no one written this book before? But Clare Pollard has done so superbly - it is perceptive, illuminating, scholarly but at the same time entertaining. It should be essential reading for every thinking parent
Penelope Lively
This book is a happy way to reconnect with old friends
Times
An enlightening, perceptive analysis of the books that build us
Sunday Telegraph, 5 star review
A gem . . . hard to put down. The combination of vast scholarly research and witty writing makes for a thoroughly enjoyable book. Pollard has managed to dissect all our favourite stories with her scalpel, while leaving their magic intact
Spectator
Pollard is a poet, and her prose is stunning . . . she writes with a joy that is luminous. Essential reading for anyone with a child, or who ever was a child
i
Most people's primal cultural memory is that of being read to by a parent. This is a phenomenon most sensitively and intelligently explored in Fierce Bad Rabbits
Daily Telegraph
Pollard so delicately enters into the world of [picture books] that the reader feels they are rediscovering once-loved landscapes
New Statesman
Delightful. As good a guide as you could hope for. It will make you think again about why you loved the children's stories that mean so much to you, and it will lead you to new discoveries too. . . A happy reconnection to the serious joys of childhood
Harper's Bazaar
Excellent
Daily Mail Book of the Week
A celebration of picture books and their artists to spark your own childhood memories
Evening Standard
Author Clare Pollard
Narrator Clare Pollard
Duration 7 hours and 35 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9780241988534
Format Audiobook
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Genre Autobiography: writers, Children’s and teenage book reviews and guides, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Memoirs, Parenting: advice and issues
Availability AU, GB, IE

More from the same

Author

About xigxag

xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK’s only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.

There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at £8.99. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from £3.99. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.

Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.

Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.