It has been a while since Folks lived in the Big House, and an even longer time has passed since there has been a garden at the House. All the animals of the Hill are very excited about the new Folks moving in, and they wonder how things are going to change. It's only a matter of time before the animals of the Hill find out just who is moving in, and they may be a little bit surprised when they do.

Sweet and cute. Talking animals with so much personality and a suspicious amount of knowledge and understanding of the human world. Father Rabbit was definitely my favorite with his propensity for saying everything in the most grandiloquent way possible.

I didn’t know what to expect, so I kept waiting for a dark turn, but it came so late in the story that I knew how it would turn out, and it wasn’t so dark after all. It’s a bit of a slow mover, so it might be good as a bedtime story. It is certainly gentle enough for all ages.

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Super cute illustrated book (but not a picture book) about a family of rabbits and their animal neighbors as a new human family is moving in to the farmhouse nearby. It has its issues (it was written in 1944 and while it's not really offensive there are some characterizations that made me roll my eyes) but overall it's a cute story. I'm not exactly sure why or how the religion aspect showed up at the very end, but it did show a difference between these New Folk and the other people who have lived in the area for a while. It was very unexpected, though.

The best part is the illustrations. They're scattered through the text, and are absolutely adorable. ( )

Newbery Medal 1945. Pleasant tale of the small animals living on Rabbit Hill, and how they get along with the "New folks" who move into the old house. ( )

A Newberry Medal winner by Robert Lawson, the author of "Ben & Me." The book was written in 1944 and has a different tempo than many children's books written today.

"New Folks coming!" is the big news on the Hill. All the animals are excited and worried. The last people to live in the house were lazy and did nothing to keep up the house and property. They didn't even plant a proper garden! Times had been tough and food scarce for the animals.

Hope is that the new people will take pride in the house and have a good garden. Concern is over if the New Folks will bring dogs, traps, guns or poison. Those things would be deadly to the animals' way of life.

The story is told from the viewpoint of the animals, especially the Rabbit family.

There are wonderful black and white illustrations sprinkled through the book that add more to the story. Responsibility, civility and community are found in this book of only 127 pages. A good book to be read at any age. ( )