1. Written by Newbury Honor-winning author Cynthia Lord
2. Recommended for rabbit lovers that are looking for an intermediate-leveled text
3. While this story is a work of fiction, there are some educational facts about rabbits and other animals sprinkled in the story
4. Neurodiversity representation through Jack's character - Jack has highly sensitive senses, knows a lot of interesting facts about animals, and works with an aide at school. Jack's disability was never named in the story, but that's okay - he does not need to be labeled. However, in the author's note, Lord mentions that her son has autism, so that he may have inspired Jack's character
5. I can make a personal connection to this book because my family adopted a bunny this past Christmas. There were many anecdotes from this story that I related to my bunny Morris - similarly to Emma's bunny Lapi, Morris chins items that he claims as his, he binkies when he is excited, and he stands on his hind legs when he wants something that is up high. Because of my background knowledge on rabbits, I was able to clearly picture the descriptions that the author wrote about in this book. ( )

I think this book has broad appeal, both boys and girls in the targeted age range can appreciate the characters and their struggles and triumphs. I love the multi-generational family aspect brought in by the grandfather's tales, how his love and stories still have impact on Emma and her family. I appreciated the way Jack was written and loved his friendship with Emma. A sweet but real-feeling story. ( )

Altogether, I think this is a fine book, and probably extremely appealing to 3rd-5th graders. I found Emma a bit hard to relate to -- not sure if it was the reader/audiobook format or not. I liked the inclusivity of the book, the homeschooling to school background the cute bunny and the lessons. It all just felt quite heavy handed to me. ( )

Emma has been homeschooled her whole life but is now entering public school for the first time, beginning with fifth grade at her local elementary school. When her father, the local game warden, is called out to help with a rabbit stuck in a fence the night before her first day of school, Emma takes it as a good sign that the rabbit is clearly a pet rabbit, not a wild one. Emma convinces her dad to keep the rabbit until they can find the owner ... which turns out to be a good thing since her first week of school doesn't go well and she needs the comfort of the rabbit at home. It's too difficult to negotiate the school cafeteria, it's harder to make friends then she realizes, and her first group project doesn't go as planned. Can Emma conquer public school? And can she keep the rabbit or will the former owners come to claim him?

This slim book manages to address a lot of issues well, although some do end up getting shorter shrift than others. For instance, one of Emma's new classmates is noted as having "special needs" (a term that is losing favor these days); it is pretty obvious to me as an adult reader that he is on the autism spectrum, which also checks out with the author's note about her own son being autistic. However, that is never clearly stated in the text. I'm not sure if that is truly necessary in the end, because the point of the book is about being a good friend and meeting other people where they are at. Another issue that is kind of brushed over is that Emma seems to be mourning the death of her grandparents, although that is again not clearly stated. (She laments about no longer going to visit them, but it is not super obvious that they have passed away ... although to be honest, I could be wrong in my interpretation that they are dead.)

Nevertheless, the book works well on the whole. It covers just one week of Emma's public school adventure, so it's clearly more of a "slice of life" type of story than a long-scale exploration into a character's growth and development. The morals about persistence when things are tough and friendship being important -- especially the part about *being* a good friend -- are positive but not done too heavily handed. Each new chapter begins with a little factoid about rabbits, which was a neat inclusion. Lapi the rabbit was lovable even from the page, so it's easy to see why Emma connected with him so quickly. Emma herself, especially with her first-person narration, is a relatable and charming character. The descriptions of the small Maine town evoke a picturesque locale of scenic nature (e.g., a lake, a mountain, lots of critters, etc.).

There is really not much diversity to speak of in this story. There is, of course, the one neurodiverse character mentioned above. The grandparents are/were Québécois. There is one minor character who, based on naming conventions and the mention of black hair, might be Asian American.

On the whole, the book is captivating enough to draw the reader in and keep them glued to the page. The excellent writing makes up for some of the issues I listed above. One book cannot do everything and this one seems to grapple with just enough. ( )