This story is entitled “SHELBY’S NEW NEIGHBOUR’
Shelby thinks he’s lost his sight when the world seems totally white one morning. But he can see inside their nest…. Gradually the familiar trees emerge as he lets his eyes get used to the vast whiteness, so he dares to fly to the pine tree where he often plays tag. The branches are slippery so he falls, down, down, down, and lands in a heap of snow, whereupon the tree sheds its disturbed load on top of him.
He cries woefully for help, and the result is:
Shelby stopped crying and hiccupping in the
middle of a gulp and stared into the face of a new
creature. It was all white and had dark eyes and
the most amazing long ears that flopped all about.
Now it was hopping madly in a circle and
loudly proclaiming, “Here we go again!! Another
kid out in the snow without permission! Now stop
your whining and listen up! This is called snow.
SNOW! Got it? It’s the same as rain except in
winter it is called snow!”
With that this strange giant-eared animal
shook out a huge back foot and began to dig
Shelby out! He turned his back on Shelby and dug
and dug and sent up great plumes of snow until
Shelby was free again.
Shelby started to hiccup again as he tried to
say thank you.
“Now, never mind, I’m just being a good
neighbour! I move into this forest every winter
and now here I find you half buried. But now
you’re okay and you need to go home and learn
how to manage in this weather! Tell your mother
the Snowshoe Rabbit rescued you!” And off he
hopped into the whiteness of the woods.
Up Shelby climbed back into the safety of
home. Mother hugged him for a long time and
said, “Oh, Shelby, Shelby, come and get dry and I
will tell you and Darby all about what happens in
winter in the forest!”
Eleanor Lawrie, Author 