Magic Rabbit Shazzams His Way Into My Heart

When I first began writing and illustrating 

The Magic Rabbit, I did not realize how magical magic can be. My paint brush became a magic wand. I found myself eating lots of carrots in order "to get into the head of a rabbit". 

I grew whiskers, and wore a black top hat. When no one was looking  I hopped around in the back yard, nibbling clover.  Although any rabbit will tell you that dandelion flowers are where it's at.

Two rabbits came to live with me. Sniffy and Chewy. They taught me how to speak rabbit, and untie knots by chewing them.  I sketched them both in exchange for yumskis.  Also in  return for fresh water, they showed me how to make things disappear. And re-appear. And disappear, and re-appear. Poof! Return. Poof! Return. Poof! Return. And so on.

 

This book it turns out is about friendship. It's s about magic, yah sure, but also about wonder, loneliness, longing,  searching and discovery.  For instance, did you know that eight out of ten Magic Rabbits play cards and prefer to drive a Morris Minor. No kidding.

 I was most surprised to find out that this book is a celestial book. It is about the stars. I discovered that Orion the Hunter hunts celestial rabbits.  Which is great if you are a gnarly, hairy, super nova Him, but not so great if you are a soft, furry, star dusty rabbit. If you look at a star chart you will see that right under the constellation of Orion, there is a constellation called, Lepas, the Hare.

Fortunately, the celestial hares are magic rabbits and can run away from the hunter by diving into black holes and coming out on earth through black top hats. Neat trick.