The Rabbits by Shaun Tan

The Rabbits by Shaun Tan is a fiction picturebook about a country which is invaded by 'The Rabbits' who come by the millions to harvest the land, hunt its animals and kill its native people. The story is based on the colonisation of Australia and the interactions between the Europeans and the Indigenous Peoples of Australia. The book contains very surreal imagery that represents the social, historical and political subject in a confronting way.

It has been noted that the author's world can have a great impact on many aspects of their writing. In this case Shaun Tan was born and grew up in Australia which makes the subject of Australia's colonisation and Indigenous Peoples very relevant. 

Their is very minimal use of words in this book as with all Shaun Tan books a lot of deeper meaning can be found within the images. One of the pages in which I found most interesting was one where the words "stole our children" are displayed on signs being held up by rabbits while children are being stolen by planes and their parents stand on the ground helpless. The way in which the rabbits hold up the words is representative of the ways in which today's society and government have admitted to their past actions and apologise for their wrong doings. Overall the illustrations reflect the author's cultural ideologies as by including the 'stolen generation' concept he is agreeing with today's society that taking children away from their parents is terrible and unacceptable.

It is a fantastic book that everyone should read. It is about a very important subject and does have some very surreal imagery but as Shaun Tan states it is based on a lot of research and does contain factual information even if it is hidden deeper than an information report. This book would be very useful in introducing the topic of Australia's colonisation to students in a SOSE class.