Once upon a time, there was a little rabbit who wanted to go to the moon and he always asked his mother if he could go to the moon. When he went inside, he saw yellow rocket boots for people but he wanted to wear them. He saw a box and it turned out to be a rocket! Then, he went into the kitchen he found a bowl for his helmet and packed a lunch. He launched the rocket and finally got to the moon!

Once upon a time, in a quiet meadow tucked beneath the whispering branches of an old willow tree, there lived a little rabbit named Thumper. Thumper was small, soft, and endlessly curious. More than anything in the whole wide world, he dreamed of going to the moon.

Every night, he would sit beside his mother, gazing up at the glowing silver circle in the sky.

“Mum, do you think I could ever go there?” he would ask, his whiskers trembling with excitement.

His mother would smile, smoothing his ears.

“Perhaps one day, my little explorer. But now, it's time for bed.”

But Thumper didn’t want to wait for “one day.” He wanted to go now!

One breezy morning, Thumper was playing with his brother Peter, and his little sister, Hazel. Peter was big, and mean, and didn't like the fact that Thumper wanted to go to the moon.

"Let's play a game," Peter said, eyes gleaming cruelly. "Let's play Bunny in the Middle."

Hazel hopped up and down excitedly. "Yes! Let's play Bunny in the Middle!" She looked at Thumper sweetly. "Please join in?"

Thumper sighed, and relented.

"Great!" Peter said, grabbing Thumper's model moon from the table. "This is our ball. And Thumper's in the middle. The winner gets to eat everyone else's serving of carrot cake!" He tossed the delicate, slivery, papier-maché model over Thumper's head and at Hazel.

"Hey! Be careful!" Thumper yelled, hopping in the air to try and catch it. "That's mine! It's fragile! Give it back!"

Thumper had spent all summer on that model, waiting until night-time to paint the details on just right as he looked at the moon.

Peter smirked. "Come and get it!"

Hazel's nose twitched nervously. "Peter, don't be mean. We can use a real ball instead."

"Nonsense, Hazel. This works fine," Peter said, throwing the moon in a hard arc over Thumper's useless waving paws. Except this time, Hazel didn't catch it in time, and it went barrelling right into the old tree at the bottom of the meadow. It bounced against the trunk, tore in half, and fell into the mud with a loud SPLAT!

"Peter! What have you done!" Thumper yelled, hopping away to retrieve his beloved model, tears coming to his eyes.

"Oh well," Peter shrugged meanly. "You can make a new one."

"But I can't!" Thumper cried. "I used all the silver paint up and spent a month on it!"

And with that, Thumper ran off into the meadow to get away from Peter. While hopping around the muddy parts of the meadow, near the human's fence where is mother had warned not to go, Thumper stumbled upon something half-buried beneath a patch of dandelions.

It was…a mini fridge.

Thumper’s eyes sparkled. “A fridge is just a metal box… and a rocket is also a metal box…” he whispered, his little bunny mind racing.

Thumper wiped his tears with the back of his paw and hopped around the strange metal box, inspecting every hinge and corner. The mini fridge was dented, muddy, and humming like a sleepy bumblebee, but to Thumper, it was perfect.

“You’ll take me to the moon, won’t you?” he whispered to it.

The fridge, being a fridge, said nothing. But Thumper took its silence as a very enthusiastic yes.

And so, the greatest rabbit‑engineer the meadow had ever known got to work.

Thumper dragged the mini fridge home (no small task for a rabbit) and set up a workshop in the burrow at the bottom of the garden. Peter and Hazel had already gone inside, probably to eat all the carrot cake. He scavenged for parts everywhere: carrot crates for wings, old spoons for levers, a bicycle pump for the engine, and a mixing bowl for a helmet, all stuck together with glue, and string, and nails He hammered, and tinkered, and tightened screws with his teeth until it was almost dark out. He hadn't even realised how late it had gotten until there was a knock at the door.

It was Hazel.

"Mum says it's dinnertime," she said. "It's lettuce casserole," she made a face.

Thumper sighed. "Okay. I'll come in a bit."

Hazel hesitated. "Thumper?"

Thumper turned around. "Yes?"

Hazel pulled something out of her bag and gave it to Thumper. "I made this. To say sorry about your model. It's not very good, but I tried my best."

Thumper looked at it. It looked like an old plate, coloured in grey and covered in glitter, like the moon. He took it in his paws gently. "Thank you Hazel."

Hazel smiled. "You like it?"

"I love it!" Thumper exclaimed, pulling Hazel into a big hug. "It almost makes up for the fact that I have to go eat lettuce casserole."

They both laughed, and Thumper attached Hazel's moon-late to the fridge. It made the perfect steering wheel. He let Hazel draw on the stars and the name of the rocketship onto the fridge.

“The Thumper‑1 Moon Hopper!” they both declared proudly, stepping back and admiring the creation.

The next day, Hazel helped Thumper pack a big lunch for his trip. They made sandwiches, and carrot cookies, and a clover salad, and apple juice for energy. And then, that morning, before their mum woke up, and Peter had gone to school, Hazel helped Thumper climb in and put his mixing-bowl helmet on.

Hazel gave Thumper her camera.

"Take lots of pictures for me!" she said, ears flopping excitedly.

Thumper smiled. "I will!"

He gripped the spoon‑levers, and engaged the bike pump, putting his hands on Hazel's steering wheel.

“Three… two… one… HOP!”

With a mighty WHOOSH, the mini‑fridge rocket blasted upward into the stars.

The rocket shot off into the sky with a surprising force. Thumper’s ears were pinned down from the sheer speed of his little spacecraft as it went up, up, up into the clouds.

He waved goodbye to Hazel as she got smaller and smaller, and Thumper got farther and farther away. He zoomed up over the treetops, over the clouds and the sky and up into the stars.

Space was even prettier than he imagined. The sky around him sparkled purple and blue, violet and teal as he zoomed by. The stars shined like little Christmas lights, winking and twinkling as he passed them all. He took so many pictures! Hazel was going to love this, and Peter wouldn’t believe his eyes!

The higher he climbed, the colder he got, and the more he wished he had brought a jacket. However, he rummaged around in his lunchbox and ate one of his cookies. It was warm and sweet and tasted like carrots and cinnamon—it reminded him of Hazel, and his mother’s cooking. He smiled, and he felt warm again.

Eventually, after a long long time of flying, Thumper saw it. The moon, hanging there like a big shiny coin. He landed his little spaceship on the surface of the moon and hopped out. Gravity was funny here, and he could hop double the height here than at home! He took a selfie, and then a photo of Earth from the moon. It was so small and far away! It looked like a little blue dot against the inky sky.

Thumper sat down and finished the rest of his lunch. When he was all done, he took the little flag from his sandwich and planted it firmly in the powdery surface of the moon.

He took a photo. “That’s one small hop for me, and one big hop for bunnykind!”

And then, when it was nearly dinnertime, Thumper got back in his rocket and went all the way home again.