Teo Degas' Books & Decks

The Rabbits is a children's book fit for adults. First published in 1998, it is still as fresh as the day it came out.

The Rabbits is a metaphorical story on the colonisation of Australia as seen and perceived by the original inhabitants of the land. The rabbits represent the European arriving in Australia, and the Wallabies the Aborigines. Shaun Tan's illustrations are wondrous, as always, but also moody and dramatic, very beautiful and powerful in the portray of the beauty of this land, the mind of the newly arrived, and the way Nature was examined and transformed. Even the attitudes of the Europeans and the Aborigines are shown in the way they dress, look and move.

This is one of those books that should be compulsory in schools to teach Australian children the basics of the History of this country - that version that we miss from History books because those have been done from an Eurocentric point of view, not by those who were dominated. For the indigenous people colonisation is an euphemism of the destruction that they suffered. However, it is remarkable that the book is written by two non-indigenous people - it is daring today, so you can imagine how daring and controversial was 14 years ago.

Reconciliation is not just a flashy word used by politicians, it is a process of becoming acquainted with our past and giving voice to those who never had it despite being part of it. This book does just so in a very unpretentious beautiful way. The book also offers and environmental message of respect and understanding of the land as a basis to benefit from it.

This is also one of those books that needs parenting - you and you child side by side, the adult not only as reader, but also as inductor and teacher. A book that needs to be talked and discussed about, so your children grow to form a country that has a different mentality and attitude towards its History and towards Aborigines.

The Rabbits is one of my favourite Australian books of all times. So tiny, so simple and so profound. So daring in its few colourful pages.