 According to James Hutchisson, professor of English at The Citadel, the book is probably based on a story made up by his mother, Jane Screven DuBose, and told to Heyward when he was a child.Before turning it into a book, Heyward used to tell the story to his own children.It is the story of Cottontail, a small, brown mother bunny who aspires to be an Easter Bunny which, in this telling, is a highly competitive position for which only 5 bunnies are selected each year.