Six Months Without My Mother: Honoring Her Through Yabbit the Rabbit
Today marks six months since my mother, Barbara Bedner, passed away from Alzheimer’s, and in that time, we’ve made incredible emotional and creative progress on bringing our children’s picture book, Yabbit the Rabbit, to life.
This journey has held everything, grief and sadness, wasted time and regret, rewrites and breakthroughs, character sketches and finished pages. Yet every step has been taken in honor of the story she first imagined decades ago.
Seven Stories for One Character
Before finding the right story, I wrote seven different versions of Yabbit the Rabbit.
The early concepts included:
brushing your teeth
taking a bath
going to space camp
spending a rainy Saturday indoors
using imagination to make chores fun
Each story was meaningful, but none felt like the story, until the seventh version became my favorite and the final choice: The Rabbit in the Moon.
It was the only version that felt big enough, timeless enough, and emotionally rich enough to honor her idea and create something lasting.
The Last Night I Read to Her
I think often about arriving at my mother’s memory care home in Pittsburgh on her final night. I sat beside her bed and read to her the September 2024 version of Yabbit the Rabbit.
I held my phone in front of her face so she could see the early character sketches of Yabbit and Momma Rabbit. Even though she could no longer communicate, I know she heard me.
And I am grateful beyond words that she listened to a story about the character she wanted to bring into the world for over 30 years.
Creating the Book in a Country She Loved
I’m incredibly proud that I was able to write this book in Mexico, a country she loved visiting. To take her character, born from her imagination, and shape him into a hero inspired by Aztec mythology, Mexican culture, and my own experiences living here feels like a gift we created together.
I wish she could read The Rabbit in the Moon today. I wish she could see the updated character sketches, the page illustrations, the world we’ve built.
I think she would be overwhelmed with pride knowing her idea became something so beautiful. And in every moment of writing, revising, and collaborating, I feel her with me.
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• The Origin of Yabbit the Rabbit
Yabbit the Rabbit was born from my mother Barbara’s creativity and imagination.
