When I was teaching nature classes to small children, I found the Thornton W. Burgess books invaluable. Peter Rabbit is this rather chubby bunny who has an unquenchable desire for knowledge. Burgess used Peter to ask all the questions we might ask of animals. As an example, he has a long adventure watching a spider build a web, and the spider patiently explains the whole process, step by step. I found many bits of information in the books I'd never found in the usual field guides and nature books, and every one I was eventually able to track down to substantiate turned out to be accurate.

Burgess's home is in Sandwich, Mass. and I've always meant to visit there, as it is a historic site now.

Rabbits IZ tasty, I must admit. My Father was a determined hunter and much of the meat on our table came from wild game.

And then, there's Hossenfeffer, which I used to order at a German restaurant in the Yorkville section of New York.

Saturday Night Live did a sick little fake commercial about a restaurant, patterned after a sea food restaurant where you pick which live lobster you want, and then they boil it for you to eat. The difference was that this was a national chain where you could go in and pick which bunny you wanted to eat. It was hilariously disgusting, with little kids chosing the bunnies they wanted to have killed and cooked for them.

Jerry