The Rabbits

Introductory activities

What is a fable?

Introduce students to the genre and concept of fables. Ask if they know what is meant by this term. If they are unsure, explain what it is, then ask if they have ever read a fable.

Distribute the fables handout (PDF, 85KB) and ask students to work through the activities. They will finish by writing their own short story with a moral lesson. As an extension, students may like to include illustrations OR present their fable using multimedia elements such as voiceover, music and/or images. Apps such as PowerPoint/Keynote, Book Creator or iMovie would be appropriate for this task. An animated fable, such as ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’, may provide inspiration.

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What is an allegory?

Allegories deliver complex messages in easy-to-read stories, making them extremely useful and expressive tools. They are considered one of the oldest forms of storytelling in the world. For centuries, humans have used allegories to say things they couldn’t say any other way. They are essentially a long metaphor in extended narrative form (unlike a normal metaphor, which is much more succinct). Some of the most famous allegories are Aesop’s Fables.

Introduce students to the concept of an allegory (you might like to watch this Ted-Ed video), then have them complete the allegory handout (PDF, 60KB).

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Historical context

You may find that your students have differing/diverse knowledge of First Nations histories and the timeline of colonial Australia. Before you begin the next activity, it would be beneficial to show them the first episode of First Australians (2008) to (re)familiarise them with Australia’s past. It would also be useful to read extracts from Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu or Young Dark Emu to dispel commonly held myths about First Nations peoples and cultures.

Ask students to fill in a KWL chart (PDF, 50KB) for one or more of the following topics:

• First Nations histories and cultures (before and after colonisation)
• the colonisation of Australia
• early settlement and farming in Australia
• introduced animal species in Australia
• conflict between First Nations peoples and European settlers
• the Stolen Generations and assimilation policy

Alternatively, write these headings on separate A3 pages and ask students to brainstorm what they know. Get them to complete this activity in groups of four or five. Allow them to write for one minute per topic, then rotate the sheets clockwise until each group has contributed additional ideas. This can be used as a diagnostic tool to establish your students’ prior knowledge of The Rabbits’ historical context.

The following websites will provide more information on those topics for which students lack prior knowledge and/or want to learn more.

As an optional activity, students could use these website to complete a research matrix (PDF, 50KB). They would first need to create inquiry questions such as:

• How did First Nations peoples live before Europeans arrived?
• How did rabbits get to Australia?
• What were the first major conflicts between First Nations peoples and European settlers?

Students would then gather information from at least THREE websites and record it on the matrix in their own words. For example:

Visual literacy

Introduce students to visual literacy techniques (PDF, 102KB) and colour symbolism (PDF, 78KB), then complete the following activities. More information is available from the Victorian Department of Education.

First, ask students to create a PowerPoint presentation with examples and definitions of each of the visual literacy techniques from the handout. Remind them to use free images (look for Creative Commons licences) or to take their own photos. An optional extension to this activity would be to add examples of colour symbolism.

Next, direct students to Shaun Tan’s paintings and have them choose one (or more) that they find interesting. Ask them to identify and analyse the visual techniques Tan has used to create meaning. They could record the techniques and suggest their effect using a table like the one below.

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First reading

Show students the front cover of The Rabbits, written by John Marsden and illustrated by Shaun Tan. Ask them to complete the see, think, wonder routine (a template is available from Thinking Pathways). Share and discuss the responses as a class.

Now read the book with students, pausing so they can respond to the words and illustrations. Ask them again what they saw, thought and wondered while reading.

Discuss how The Rabbits is an allegory, then have students complete the allegory table (PDF, 53KB) to organise their ideas.

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Outline of key elements of the text

Plot

The story of The Rabbits progresses as follows:

invasion > initial friendship > overwhelming expansion > indifference to existing culture(s) > resistance > complete domination and control

Ask students to identify the pages where the narrative progresses from one stage to the next. They can record this on a plot diagram (PDF, 81KB).

Characters

Discuss the following questions with students:

• Marsden and Tan chose to represent the colonisers as rabbits. Why do you think they made this decision? NOTE: This short video sheds light on the introduction of rabbits to Australia.
• What other characters are included in the story?
• How are the local people represented? Why do you think Tan chose ‘numbat-like creatures’, who are less recognisable as Australian animals? Why weren’t more obvious native animals chosen, like kangaroos or emus?

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Synthesising task

NOTE: For the purpose of tracking page numbers, the first page of the story is considered p. 2.

Dramatic performance

In 2015 The Rabbits was adapted into an opera. Show students Daily Review’s interview with the composer, Kate Miller-Heidke, and the director, John Sheedy. Discuss how effective the opera would be in presenting the content and themes from the original text. Is it still an allegory? Who is the intended audience of this performance?

Working in groups of four or five, students will create their own dramatic performance based on a scene from The Rabbits. Present them with three to five double-page spreads to choose from (to prevent them from recreating acts of colonisation or violence, it is strongly recommended that you omit pp. 12–13, 16–17, 18–19, and 22–23). Students must incorporate the text from their chosen scene, but can otherwise create new dialogue and movements to bring it to life. The opera will be a good source of inspiration.

The performance should:

• Reflect the theme(s) presented in the double-page spread
• Incorporate all characters from the double-page spread
• Aim to communicate the emotion/mood of the chosen scene

Performances should be no longer than one or two minutes. Remind students that everyone in the group needs a role; if they wish, they can incorporate simple costumes, props and/or instrumental music to help set the tone.

Groups will perform their scenes in the order they appear in the text.

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The writer’s craft

Setting

There are no named settings in The Rabbits, but Australian landscapes (e.g. deserts, grasslands) can be identified. As a class, create a list of the different types of landscapes presented in the text. This can include built landscapes.

Botany Bay is one of the only known settings in The Rabbits (Tan mentions it in his essay, ‘Originality and Creativity’). The Dharawal name for Botany Bay is Kamay. Ask students to explore modern day Kamay using Google Earth, then consider the following questions:

• Why would Kamay have been chosen as the place for Europeans to come ashore (this article may shed some light)?
• Why did Captain Cook call Kamay ‘Botany Bay’? What clues does this give us about why the Gamayngal (Aboriginal people belonging to Kamay) chose to live in this area?
• How has Kamay changed over time?

Point of view

The Rabbits is written from the point of view of the numbat-like creatures (henceforth ‘Numbats’). They speak in the plural first-person (i.e. we, us, our) and often refer to the Rabbits simply as ‘they’.

When reading any text, it is important to consider the point of view that is being presented. Ask students to think of an event on which people have had different perspectives (this may be from their own experience, or from current affairs/popular culture). Brainstorm some of the factors that might influence a person’s perspective on an event, such as their physical location, values, emotions, etc. Discuss the following:

• Why do you think Marsden and Tan chose to write from an Indigenous people’s perspective?
• From what other perspectives could they have written (e.g. settlers, convicts, their descendants, international visitors, a third person omniscient narrator)?

As a class, rewrite the text at the top of p. 10 (when the Numbats observe that the Rabbits don’t live in trees). Ask students to consider how a new point of view might change the language. For example:

Repeat this exercise with a new page. Choose carefully so as not to perpetuate harmful or misinformed colonial beliefs about Aboriginal peoples; pp. 24–25 (which show the millions and millions of Rabbits) may be appropriate. Then ask students to consider:

• How does rewriting the text from a new perspective change its meaning?
• Do you think such a change affects or compromises the original text?

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Literary techniques

Marsden uses many literary devices that enhance (and are enhanced) by Tan’s illustrations. These include imagery, repetition, rhetorical questions, emotive language and hyperbole, all of which are employed for a particular purpose and effect.

Distribute the literary devices list (PDF, 59KB) so students can familiarise themselves with the aforementioned techniques. Ask them to identify these devices in The Rabbits. They can use the literary devices chart (PDF, 55KB) to record their work.

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Characterisation

The characters in The Rabbits are not named – not even the Numbat narrator(s). Perhaps this is symbolic of the way the Rabbits deny their very existence (here you could explain the doctrine of terra nullius). Can students think of any other reasons why the characters remain nameless? Some Rabbits appear to represent real historical figures such as Captain Cook (p. 9), while others have clothing and accessories that make their occupations or roles evident. Ask students what they think the symbolism of this might be.

Working individually or in pairs, students should write a list of identifiable characters in The Rabbits and describe their appearance. They can use a table like the one below.

Role on the wall

This activity asks students to consider what characters are thinking and feeling about the events of the text. You may like to begin with a class discussion or brainstorm; the following table may be useful for this.

Now divide students into pairs or groups of three. Each pair or group will choose a character from The Rabbits and sketch them on A3/butcher’s paper. Next to the character’s head, they should draw a thought bubble. Next to or within the character’s chest, they should draw a large love heart.

Students should begin by writing facts about their character around the outside of their sketch, e.g. a Rabbit, wearing a soldier’s uniform, arrived on a ship.

Inside the heart, students will write words that describe how the character might be feeling throughout the text, e.g. nervous, homesick (Rabbits), fearful, threatened (Numbats).

Inside the thought bubble, students will write what the character might be thinking/wondering, e.g. ‘Will we lose our homes?’, ‘Who are these strange creatures?’ (Numbats), ‘The plants here are very different to home’ (Rabbits).

Students can share their work with their peers before displaying it around the classroom.

Hot seating

This role-playing activity asks students to take on the role of a character from the text. Their peers will act as interviewers and ask them questions, which must be answered in-character.

Divide students into groups of four. Each group must nominate two interviewers and two students to ‘sit in the hot seat’, either as a Numbat or a Rabbit.

The students in the hot seat will brainstorm what their characters might be thinking and feeling throughout the text. They might like to record their ideas using the following table:

The students conducting the interview will each come up with two to three questions to ask their peers. One may like to interview the Rabbit while the other interviews the Numbat. The questions should be open-ended to evoke deep and detailed responses. For example:

• What were you (the Numbat) thinking and feeling when you saw the ship arriving in the bay?
• What were your (the Rabbit’s) initial thoughts about this new land?

Once everyone is prepared, the groups can conduct their interviews.

Finish with a whole class reflection. You might ask:

• How did it feel to step into your character’s shoes?
• What new insights did you gain about the character’s thoughts and feelings?
• What challenges did you and/or your group face while completing this activity?

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Visual literacy

For this task, students will identify the use of visual literacy techniques on the front and back cover of The Rabbits. Retrieve the list of visual literacy techniques (Initial Response > Introductory Activities > Visual Literacy) and distribute the visual literacy analysis table (PDF, 77KB). Then display the artwork that wraps around the cover: They came by water (1997).

Discuss students’ initial thoughts when they look at this artwork. You can ask questions like:

• What do you see/notice?
• What does it make you think/feel?
• What are you wondering?

Individually or in pairs, students will identify the visual literacy techniques in the image and suggest why they have been used (i.e. what effect they have). They can record their observations and suggestions on the analysis table.

Compare and contrast

Students will now compare They came by water with the painting that inspired it: E. Phillips Fox’s Landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay, 1770 (1902). You might like to discuss what students already know about Cook’s landing at Kamay (Botany Bay). This video might be useful in presenting some background information, while this extract depicts the same event from a different perspective.

Divide students into pairs or groups of three. Make sure they have access to Tan’s artwork, Fox’s painting, and the compare and contrast handout (PDF, 105KB). In their pairs/groups, students are to analyse the two images, discuss any similarities and differences, and record their observations.

Ask students to consider how the local people are portrayed in both images. In Tan’s artwork, the Numbats are far away and merely observing the landing; in Fox’s painting, the two Gweagal men (from the Dharawal nation) are closer to the foreground, holding weapons in readiness to defend themselves and their land. Students can record their observations and interpretations.

Now ask students to consider how the colonisers are portrayed in both images. The Rabbits are armed and in uniform, pointing towards the Numbats in a similar way to Cook’s party in the original painting, although the distance is enhanced. Students can record their observations and interpretations.

Finally, using the information they have captured, students can write an individual paragraph comparing and contrasting the representations in both images.

Comparing visual literacy techniques

As an extension of the previous exercise, students can compare the visual literacy techniques used in both Tan’s artwork and Fox’s painting. They can work individually or in pairs to fill in a new analysis table (PDF, 59KB), identifying the features and techniques in each image.

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Analysing visual literacy techniques

Working individually or in pairs, students will choose ONE double-page spread from The Rabbits (or you can allocate a range of spreads) to analyse. Make sure they have access to a copy of the book and some sticky notes; if their spread appears on Tan’s website, they can also work digitally.

Students are to annotate the image by writing on sticky notes and attaching them to the page. They should not only identify the visual literacy techniques Tan has used, but also their effect. Students can refer to their list of visual literacy techniques if they need assistance.

Once they have finished their annotations, students will work individually to write a paragraph analysing their double-page spread. They should include the following:

• What elements of visual literacy can you identify? What is their purpose and effect?
• What is the surface meaning of this page (i.e. what can you see)?
• What is the deeper meaning (i.e. what message is the illustrator trying to convey)?
• What text has been included on this page? Does it add extra information or support the illustration? Consider the author’s vocabulary choices.
• How are you positioned to respond to this page (i.e. how does this page make you think and feel)?

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Themes

Historical context

This activity asks students to explore the major historical events that are depicted in The Rabbits, and to analyse the information and perspectives presented.

Allocate pairs or groups of three ONE double-page spread from The Rabbits. The pages should deal with a specific event or theme relating to interactions between First Nations peoples and colonial settlers. Examples include:

For their allocated spread, students will:

• summarise what is being presented and identify how it relates to the theme/topic
• identify the main visual literacy techniques and their effects
• explain the First Nations and colonial perspectives being depicted

Students should research their theme/event and present their findings in a PowerPoint presentation. They must include the main facts about this event, as well as its impact on the natural environment and/or First Nations peoples and cultures. They should also explain how this theme/event is portrayed in The Rabbits using the information they gathered for their historical events handout. The following websites make good starting points for student research:

• Australian Geographic – When Joseph Banks first arrived in Australia (Joseph Banks’ specimen collection)
• State Library of NSW – Eight days in Kamay (Cook’s landing at Kamay)
• Museums of History New South Wales – The Convicts’ Colony (First Fleet)
• State Library of NSW – Australian agricultural and rural life (colonial farming practices)
• Deadly Story – Frontier wars
• Australian Academy of the Humanities – The Australian Wars: new insights from a digital map (colonial frontier massacres)
• AIATSIS – The Stolen Generations
• Australian Bureau of Statistics – Australia’s Environment: Issues and Trends, Jan 2010 (impact of colonisation on the natural environment)

Students will present their findings to the rest of the class, ideally in the order that their themes/events were introduced in the book.

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Reconciliation

Now place students in groups of three or four and present them with some more recent events in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history. Allocate (or allow them to choose) ONE key event that has worked (or is working towards) reconciliation in Australia. Examples include:

• 1965 Freedom Ride
• The Wave Hill Walk-Off (1966–1975)
• The 1967 Referendum
• The Aboriginal Tent Embassy (1972)
• Handback of Uluru to the Anangu people (1985)
• The Redfern Speech (1992)
• The Mabo Native Title Decision (1992)
• The Bringing Them Home report (1997)
• The National Apology (2008)
• The Uluru Statement from the Heart (2017)
• Rethinking 26 January (ongoing)

Students will research their event to discover:

• What is this event?
• Who was/is involved?
• What was/is the outcome and how did/does it address reconciliation?

They can record their findings on the reconciliation retrieval chart (PDF, 55KB).

Students will then link their event to the relevant pages in The Rabbits (e.g. the Bringing Them Home report or National Apology relate to pp. 22–23). They may have to look closely at the underlying themes, such as dispossession or lack of recognition, to make these links.

Finally, each group will present their findings to the class. They must address the information from their research table and explain how the event links to The Rabbits.

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Exploring key themes

Place students in pairs or groups of three. Allocate each pair/group ONE key theme explored in The Rabbits. Suggestions include: invasion, colonisation, violence, dispossession, cultural genocide, environmental destruction, assimilation, identity, the centrality of Country/place, the future.

Students can complete the themes chart (PDF, 55KB) to identify and analyse the following elements:

• the two main perspectives explored (First Nations and colonial)
• the images/visual literacy techniques that explore their theme
• the words/text that relates to this theme
• the message that Marsden and Tan are conveying regarding this theme

Each group will share their ideas with the class. This will lay the groundwork for the Synthesising Task below.

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Synthesising task

Exploring and explaining themes

Students are to choose one or two themes from The Rabbits and write a maximum of TWO detailed paragraphs explaining how they are explored through visual literacy techniques. The TEEL planner (PDF, 85KB) will assist students to organise their ideas.

The paragraph(s) should address the following questions:

1. How are these themes explored in The Rabbits?
2. What message is Marsden and Tan trying to convey?

Remind students that they need to:

• Write in the third person, e.g. ‘The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan explores the theme of invasion through the use of …’
• Include quotation marks when quoting text, and introduce the quotes in a proper sentence.
• Discuss the main page(s) that explore the chosen theme(s) and include specific examples of visual literacy techniques.
• Follow the TEEL paragraph structure.
• Proofread and edit their work carefully for spelling, grammar and punctuation.

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Ways of reading the text

Postcolonial literary theory

The Rabbits is an allegory of the invasion and colonisation of Australia. It challenges traditional colonial portrayals of European settlement by telling a story from an Indigenous people’s perspective.

Postcolonial literary theory deals with the power relations between different groups, cultures or peoples from colonised countries, namely the ‘ways of being’ between the colonisers and the colonised. Postcolonial literature focuses on the decolonisation of a country and the desired return of political or cultural independence to its First Peoples.

The Rabbits has been criticised for focusing predominately on the negative impacts of colonisation, particularly the feeling of hopelessness created at the end of the text (pp. 28–30). Many individuals, groups and events in recent history have attempted to pave the way towards reconciliation and, in doing so, challenge portrayals of First Nations peoples as passive bystanders (First Nations peoples and cultures are, in fact, incredibly strong, resilient and resistant). One such event is the 1965 Freedom Ride, often considered the beginning of the long journey towards reconciliation in Australia.

Introduce students to the purpose and outcome of the 1965 Freedom Ride. ABC Radio National has several helpful reports on this topic:

• Leading the Freedom Ride in 1965
• Remembering the Freedom Ride
• The Freedom Ride, then and now

Discuss the extent to which decolonisation or reconciliation has progressed since the Freedom Ride. What are some of the key issues or friction points in the journey towards reconciliation? Examples include the introduction of NAIDOC Week (1975) and National Reconciliation Week (1993) on the one hand, and systemic racism and over-representation on the other hand.

Have students draw a detailed illustration, using similar visual literacy techniques to The Rabbits, to depict the fight for recognition in the 1965 Freedom Ride. They may like to add a caption that supports their illustration. Students can look at images and footage taken at the time as inspiration for their work. Reliable sources include:

• AIATSIS
• Common Ground
• National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

Postcolonial literary theory also deals with the portrayal of colonisation from multiple perspectives. Asks students to compare The Rabbits with a more traditional portrayal of colonisation in a text like The Secret River (based on the novel by Kate Grenville). Do such texts make them sympathise more with colonised peoples or with colonisers?

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Comparisons with other texts

First Nations poetry

The Rabbits is a story of colonisation from an Indigenous perspective (as presented by non-Indigenous authors). Oodgeroo Noonuccal was an Aboriginal activist, poet and educator whose poems explore the impact of colonisation on First Nations cultures. Red Room Poetry offers a good introduction to her work; she also featured in an episode of the SBS documentary series, Rebel With a Cause. Noonuccal was the first Aboriginal woman to have a book of poetry published (We Are Going, 1964). Four of her poems are available from the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA): ‘Corroboree’, ‘Ballad of the Totems’, ‘Dawn Wail for the Dead’ and ‘We Are Going’.

As a class, analyse ‘We Are Going’. You can listen to Noonuccal reciting her poem, as well as reading the text provided by the NFSA. Ask students to identify:

• the poetic devices used, such as repetition and imagery
• the main message of the poem
• the perspective that the poem presents and the emotions it conveys
• any parallels, similarities and/or differences they can draw between the poem and The Rabbits (e.g. loss of culture, a sense of hopelessness)

Working in pairs, students will repeat this activity with another poem. They can choose one of the three remaining Noonuccal poems mentioned above, or explore more recent First Nations poetry by Ellen van Neerven, Alison Whittaker, Kirli Saunders, Ali Cobby Eckermann or Joel Davison. They will find more examples on the Red Room Poetry website, and in the anthologies Guwayu (ed. Jeanine Leane) and Woven (ed. Anne-Marie Te Whiu).

As an optional extension, students could create an illustration to support one or more lines from the poem they have analysed. They may like to use animals to represent humans, as in The Rabbits. Ask them to consider the perspective from which they will draw, as well as visual literacy techniques such as the salient point, angle, gaze, etc.

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Australia Day advertisement

In 2017, Meat and Livestock Australia released an advertisement that celebrated diversity and acknowledged Australia’s colonial history, but also challenged the celebration of Australia Day on the date the country was invaded. The advertisement addresses First Nations land rights and promotes multiculturalism and reconciliation.

Discuss with students:

• What is the main message of the advertisement?
• Does it challenge the dominant view that Australia was ‘founded’ on 26 January 1788 when the First Fleet arrived? How?
• Are the contents of the advertisement based on fact?
• What similarities can you identify between the Australia Day advertisement and The Rabbits (focusing particularly on the first three double-page spreads)?

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Rabbit-Proof Fence

Phillip Noyce’s Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) is a film adaptation of Nugi Garimara’s Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence. It is the true story of Garimara’s mother, Molly, and deals with the forced removal and attempted assimilation of Aboriginal children in the 1930s (i.e. the Stolen Generations). This is powerfully referenced in The Rabbits on pp. 22–23.

Watch the film together, then ask students to write an informative paragraph on the Stolen Generations. They should explain the forced separation of Aboriginal children from their families and share their learnings about the experiences of the Stolen Generations from the film. Remind students to make careful and considered language choices in their writing (e.g. The Rabbits uses the term ‘stole’). It’s also worth discussing the extent of forced child removal in Australia; as many as 1 in 3 First Nations children were taken from their families between 1910 and the 1970s, and even in the 2020s they continue to be removed at disproportionate rates. The late Gunditjmara and Bundjalung singer-songwriter and activist, Archie Roach, was one of many notable Stolen Generations survivors.

Young Dark Emu

Like The Rabbits, Bruce Pascoe’s Young Dark Emu presents a lesser known – and radically different – perspective on history. Have students read some excerpts from Young Dark Emu. Ask them to identify and explain any links between this text and The Rabbits. In particular, focus on misconceptions regarding agriculture, land use, and lifestyle/housing (Pascoe originally challenged these in his seminal work, Dark Emu). Compare with the depiction of the environment in the final pages of The Rabbits (see pp. 26–27).

Ask students:

• Does Young Dark Emu add to your understanding of First Nations histories and cultures? How?
• What similarities and differences can you find between Young Dark Emu and The Rabbits? Summarise your findings in a Venn diagram.

Students can then compare the exploration of themes in The Rabbits and Young Dark Emu (see table below). What messages does each text convey?

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The Arrival

The Arrival is another text by Shaun Tan that shares themes with The Rabbits (e.g. belonging, identity, connection to place, displacement). Unlike The Rabbits, however, the story is told from an immigrant’s perspective.

Ask students to view the front cover of The Arrival and complete another see, think, wonder routine. Discuss their answers as a class, focusing on what they think the significance of the creature might be. Ask if they can draw any comparisons between this animal and those presented in The Rabbits.

Also ask students what they know about graphic novels and how to read them (left to right, top to bottom). If time allows, read the entire text, OR any combination of the six sections. As the story is told through a series of wordless images, this could be done in pairs or small groups.

Using what they have learned about visual literacy techniques, students will analyse a page of their choice from The Arrival. Give them a fresh visual literacy analysis table (Close Study > The Writer’s Craft > Visual Literacy) so they can record their work. If you have limited copies of the book, you can direct students to choose from the small selection of illustrations on Tan’s website.

Now ask students to brainstorm the main features of The Rabbits and The Arrival and record them on a Venn diagram. They will then complete a close analysis of the two texts, identifying their main features and explaining how they are similar or different. This can be recorded on a retrieval chart (PDF, 79KB).

Finish by discussing the following questions as a class or in small groups, OR by having students provide individually written short answers.

• Why did Tan include unfamiliar animals in both The Arrival and The Rabbits?
• Why do you think Tan made The Arrival a wordless text? Do you think it would have been enhanced if it had some text, like The Rabbits, OR is it more effective as is?
• How do the endings of the two texts differ? Can you find any similarities between the endings?

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Rich assessment task 1: productive mode

An addition to The Rabbits

Ask students to imagine that Marsden and Tan are seeking ideas to bring The Rabbits up to date and present a more hopeful picture of the future.

Consider the significant milestones and achievements in recent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, such as the 1967 Referendum or the National Apology. Students will research ONE of these milestones, referring to their previous work on Reconciliation (see Close Study > The Writer’s Craft > Themes), and present it as an additional double-page spread to be included at the end of The Rabbits.

Students can use the following websites as starting points for their research:

• Reconciliation Australia
• AIATSIS
• ANTAR
• Common Ground
• Deadly Story
• SBS NITV
• SBS Learn
• ABC Education

Once they have investigated their milestone, they will create a detailed illustration that depicts the event/issue in the style of The Rabbits. If they are not confident in their drawing skills, they can instead present a detailed concept that indicates what might go where and how the elements might look. Encourage students to plan carefully and think about how they can use visual literacy techniques and colour symbolism to represent the milestone. They might like to watch this short video in which Tan explains some of his own drawing techniques.

Next, students will write some text to support their illustration. This should be from the perspective of the Numbats, as in the rest of The Rabbits. Students should consider their language choices and choose words that have impact and meaning.

The final step is to produce a detailed artist’s statement in which students:

• Explain the milestone on which their work is based, and how the illustration or concept reflects this
• Identify at least THREE visual literacy techniques in the illustration/concept and explain why they have been included (i.e. what is their effect on the reader?)
• Explain the text they have written (i.e. how does it complement and support the illustration?)

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Reflection

Ask students:

What have you learned about Australian history and/or First Nations histories and cultures from reading The Rabbits?

Have them complete a connect, extend, challenge routine to guide their thinking (a template is available from Thinking Pathways).

Now lead a discussion about the efficacy of picture books for addressing mature or complex themes. Students can swap ideas in pairs or small groups before sharing with the whole class. A routine like ‘I used to think … now I think …’ may be useful (e.g. ‘I used to think that picture books were written for children, but now I think that they can explore themes that many children would not understand’). Then ask:

Does The Rabbits challenge your expectations of a picture book?

Finish by having students complete a personal reflection (PDF, 78KB).

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Criticism

The story of The Rabbits has obvious parallels with the colonisation of Australia. According to Tan, the book has attracted criticism from conservative commentators who consider it to be ‘politically correct propaganda’. Discuss the following questions:

• What do critics mean when they call The Rabbits ‘propaganda’?
• Can a text be propagandist if it is historically accurate?
• How effective is The Rabbits in teaching readers about Australia’s past? Consider the themes explored and whether they can be supported by other evidence.

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Video review

Ask students to imagine that they have been invited to film a review of The Rabbits for the CBCA Sun Project. The video can be no longer than three minutes in length. The audience will be teachers who are considering using The Rabbits in their classroom.

Students will devise FIVE TO EIGHT open-ended questions about the text. The questions should address the following:

• a brief (and spoiler-free) summary of The Rabbits
• the main themes/topics and their value for students
• the reviewers’ initial response to the text and whether this changed after reading
• why they would recommend The Rabbits as a valuable text to be taught in English

They will then draft some answers to these questions. One approach would be to frame the review as an interview, with one student asking questions and the other one answering them. Alternatively, they can take turns providing answers.

Once they have drafted their script, students will film themselves reviewing The Rabbits. They should edit as necessary and include text, background music, etc. to enhance the presentation. Watch the final reviews together as a class.

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Rich assessment task 2: receptive mode

Blog post

Show students a review of The Rabbits from a website like Kids’ Book Review or Melbourne Review of Books. Discuss the content and the author’s writing style. Identify some of the vocabulary choices that express opinions.

After reading one or more reviews for inspiration (including those of other books, if desired), students are to write their own blog post sharing their thoughts and opinions on The Rabbits.

Give students a checklist and tips for composing their blog post (PDF, 80KB). Remind them to consider their vocabulary choices, especially those that describe their opinions (e.g. ‘The Rabbits is a captivating read’), and to edit their work carefully for spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Once students have written their blogs, they can share them with the rest of the class. You could ask them to publish their work on a Padlet or other appropriate platform (e.g. Edublogs), or create a shared document instead.

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