Trapping Rabbits

By: John Isaac Jones

Narrated by: James H Kiser

This short story is a testimony to the depths of parental love.

One day in June of 1951, Billy Johnson's father delayed plowing long enough to teach his son how to trap a rabbit. In the past, he had never seen his father delay plowing for any reason, especially when he was using black hired hands.

Over the years that followed, he always assumed the motive for the lesson was nothing more than a father who was an avid sportsman teaching his son to trap a rabbit. After his father died, he learned differently.

©2015 John I. Jones (P)2017 John I. Jones

I almost cried! Soooo good!

Here is a short punchy story that sold me in about two sentences.

Written well, narrated excellently. Potent little mystery story. It might make you almost cry unless you are a robot.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

More than I was expecting

I'm never sure what to expect from a story this short, but this one had far more impact than I was expecting.

Story of love and survival this is worth listening to, probably more than once.

The narration was delivered well with a smooth and natural sounding pace.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher and/or author and/or narrator in exchange for an honest review.

If you found this review helpful would you please take a moment to click yes below.

Good read

Going Home by John Isaac Jones was a good quick read. Archie is preparing for his death in the electric chair. They were about to pull the switch when he remembered that there were some things he wanted to take care of.

👍🏻

A great little short story. Well worth a listen. I found the narrator a tad monotone so it wasn’t my favorite. But still I loved the story.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

A generational passing of values.

This is a short story of the passing down of values, both spoken and unspoken, from father to son. It's a brief glimpse of a memorable day in the life of a young boy farming along side his father. It tells of the strength of the fathers practical example to his son as well as the imparting of a bit of training which takes the son a couple of decades to fully understand the significance of.

I was given this audio book at my request for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Importance of Trapping Rabbits

Fabulous short story in which a dad takes time out of his work day to show his son how to trap rabbits. The son enjoyed the time with dad, but was a little confused about why this lesson happened. As with all short stories there is more than meets the eye (or ear, this is audio!) and the son learns just why this was a skill his dad wanted to pass down to him.
Family relationships, family history, love and survival are all themes to be found here. Great story!
I was given this audio book at my request for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Cherish your memories 😢

This is a sentimental tale about the lessons passed from a father to his son. When Billy's father taught him how to trap a 🐇 he had no idea what a valuable lesson his father was giving him. After his father's death, Billy speaks with his aunt and the conversation brings to light the importance of this passed on knowledge.
I love book's with hidden meanings in them. This one makes you revisit your own childhood and value the wisdom you took for granted as a child. I voluntarily requested a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

short but good!

This is my 3rd book by Mr Jones. I have really come to I Appreciate his writing and his stories. I think you should definitely give them a try. I'm hoping at one point to see a book with all this short stories in it! Hint Hint
this is a great book about family family lessons and values.

James H Kiser did a fine job telling this story.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Not for those who believe in painless death to ani

This is a short story where a father teaches his son Billy how to trap and kill rabbits. Only years later Billy will understand the full meaning of it all.

I always enjoy stories about knowledge passed from old to young generations. I liked the descriptions of the farm where Billy’s family lived and worked. There is not a lot of character development due to the shortness of the story, but its meaning is quite clear.

I think, though that the story would need to be more polished. I felt there was a long built up and then the end was a bit rushed, without further details about Billy’s father.

Something I did not enjoy was the explanation about how to kill the rabbits. Basically it was either breaking their neck or beating them to death. Nowadays that we try to promote a dignified life for animals, beating an animal to death is just not something acceptable. I’m not a vegetarian, I eat meat, but whenever I can I try to source meat from animals that had a dignified life and the most painless death possible. I understand killing to eat but I just don’t understand killing in a way that makes an animal suffer.

James H. Kiser was clear but monotone. He did not inflect any emotion in the dialogs, and all voices sounded the same. It was okay though, but not something that made the story more enjoyable.

I received a copy of this book in audio format from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Plowing with Mules!

This little piece of historical fiction centers on Billy Johnson. In 1951, he’s just a kid and it’s plowing season. Billy’s dad and two Black farm workers (Rufus & Calvin) are hard at work with the mules when a little rain shower comes along and work is paused. Billy’s dad doesn’t waste the time but instead uses it to teach Billy the useful skill of catching and killing rabbits.

I really liked this part of the story because it’s set on a farm, there are mules (I used to have donkeys and one of them was trained to plow), and there’s some parent-kid bonding going on. In today’s world of industrial meat farms, catching and killing rabbits isn’t a common skill to pass down but I think it’s a useful one to have. The author didn’t hold back on how to capture and kill rabbits, nor did he make the descriptions gruesome. It was simply a useful skill being passed on from one generation to the next.

The story is catapulted into 1975 for the second half of the tale. Billy is a functioning adult with a job and aspirations. In a conversation with a shoestring relative, he’s flung back to that moment in 1951 where his dad taught him about rabbits.

I was intrigued by the second half of this story. It was interesting to see Billy living and working in near-modern world with office buildings and packaged foods. However, the tale ends rather abruptly. I was left wondering what the point was and how Billy was affected by this unexpected trigger in 1975 that brought back 1951. I would have liked just a little more to finish this story out. We don’t know if Billy’s dad is alive in 1975 or not. Perhaps Billy would give him a call or visit his grave or simply toast his memory with a scotch.

In short, the tale started off interesting and gripping. Then there’s the sudden jump in timeline but the story holds promise for interesting times. Then it simply ends abruptly.

I received a free copy of this book.

The Narration: James Kiser was a good fit for this story. He had a kid voice for Billy and then an adult voice for him. There was only 1 female character but Kiser had a believable voice for her. He captured the dramatic bits as well as the in-between moments well.