Emmaline and the Bunny
*Starred Review* In Hannigan’s debut novel, Ida B (2004), she introduced a furious young heroine trying to cope with changes in her life. Here, in this quiet fantasy, she offers something quite different. Emmaline wants a bunny, but Emmaline lives on Shipshape Street in the town of Neatasapin. Enforcing the tidiness is Mayor Oliphant, who insists that children be silent and spotless and houses be spick-and-span. The intimidated electorate adheres to his edicts. But Emmaline, a puddle splasher and silly-phrase shouter (“Dinglederrydee!”) is an anomaly, albeit a lonely one, since the other kids won’t play with her. So she seeks out a wild bunny, which she finds, and loses, and finds again, and in the process changes both her parents and her town. Told in very short chapters and using language in unusual ways, this is a small delight, cunningly illustrated by Hannigan’s own sweet watercolors, reminiscent of Beatrix Potter’s works. The fun wordplay is just the thing to get new readers going, but most children will simply enjoy listening to the story—again and again. Grades 1-3. --Ilene Cooper