The Runaway Bunny by Clement Hurd (Illustrator) ...

Can we hide from God? Could God find you under the bed? Could God find you dressed in red? Could God find you soaking in a bath? Could God find you walking down a path? Could God find you hiding in a tree? Could God find you sailing on the sea? Could God find you sitting on the moon? Could God find you at 12 noon? Can you think of places to hide? (Let your child names all the places he or she would like to hide). What did his mother do? (Again, let your child(ren) hold the book, or take turns holding the book, and find all the ways the mother bunny found her son). In the story the Runaway Bunny, where does the little bunny try to hide? (Let your child(ren) hold the book, or take turns holding the book, and find all the places the little bunny tried to hide). From the opening account in Genesis through the book of Revelation, God has been, and promises to create and re-create, redeem and transform, provide and sustain us, giving us the assurance that God is presently working in our now. Theology: We have been created by God for God therefore, we are pursued by a love that will not let us go. Clement Hurd’s illustrations bring to life the height, depth, length, and width of a mother’s love.

After his return to the United States in 1935, he began to work in childrens books. He studied painting in Paris with Fernand Léger and others in the early 1930s. Or, as I might say: the tension between our human want to go our own way and our need for safe boundaries and the assuring, comforting care and love of God. Clement Hurd (19081988) is best known for illustrating Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, the classic picture books by Margaret Wise Brown. Told in a “what if” dialogical narrative, the Runaway Bunny explores the tension between a little bunny boy’s desire to runaway and his need for the assuring and steadfast love of his mother bunny.

Literary Elements at Work: The Runaway Bunny is Margaret Wise Brown’s realistic-fictional account of a mother’s assurance to her wayward tending bunny that he cannot escape her all encompassing love and care. Summary: The Runaway Bunny is the comforting and assuring account of a mother’s love and care.

The Runaway Bunny by Clement Hurd (Illustrator) ...