The Rabbit Listened

This story is a powerful lesson on empathizing and listening. When Taylor's blocks fall down, a plethora of friends come by and try to cheer him up, and leave when they don't succeed. However, when the rabbit comes by, he just sits with him and listens to how Taylor feels--and he never leaves. Though each of the friends wanted to help Taylor feel better and were trying to empathize, the rabbit didn't try to fix the problem, stayed by Taylor's side, and listened to understand exactly how Taylor was feeling.

This is a beautifully simple but powerful story about coping with failure, empathizing and being a friend who is willing to listen without insisting that people deal with things the way YOU would choose to deal with them. The illustrations are simple on each white background, and the animal comparisons to feelings help bring it to a level where these complex issues and emotions can be better understood by children. In the end, Taylor needs to go through many stages to be able to cope with the trauma of his block tower falling over, and that's ok. In the end, we can start again!