"The Rabbit's Gift" by Jessica Vitalis is a heartwarming and touching middle-grade story that explores themes of friendship, empathy, and the magic of unexpected connections. Vitalis' storytelling prowess shines as she crafts a tale of compassion, resilience, and the power of giving. The book's relatable characters and endearing plot create an immersive reading experience that resonates with young readers. Vitalis skillfully navigates the emotions of empathy and the impact of small acts of kindness, adding depth to the narrative. "The Rabbit's Gift" is a touching reminder that even in challenging times, a simple gesture can create a ripple of positive change, leaving readers with a warm and hopeful feeling as they accompany the characters on their journey of friendship and generosity.

This is a story about complicated characters, a rabbit named Quincy and a girl named Fleurine, who both make bad decisions– and have to live with the consequences of their actions. In a world where rabbits cultivate cabbages that grow human babies, Quincy sneaks out to find carrot seeds for his starving family. What he finds is a girl who steals a baby in a cabbage. Fleurine wants a sister so she picks a Chou illegally…but she can’t make it grow, and Quincy is hot on her trail. Their actions open their eyes to the bigger wold around them and the plight of rabbits and humans who are hungry and poor.

The Rabbit's Gift by Jessica Vitalis uses rabbits as a frame to explore the dichotomy of human nature - but in an age appropriate middle-school way. It is unique and beautiful.

The Rabbit's Gift by @jessicavauthor is such a fun, sweet book, and I loved it! This truly could be a @Pixar movie - adorable characters, a beautiful world, and a truly imaginative story about family and friendship, and realizing that while you're the hero in your own story, you might be the villain in someone else's story!

I loved this book! Told through dual point of view, of a rabbit who helps deliver Chou (cabbage patch babies!) and a girl next in line to lead who is desperate for a baby sister. Their stories intertwine, with each resenting the other, til they find a way to accept and support each other.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of The Rabbit's Gift by Jessica Vitalis. This book expolores the wonder of life and birth. Vitalis's idea came from French myth in which babies from in cabbage plants and are delivered to their families by rabbits. Fleurine, the daughter of Montpeyroux's leader wants a sister so badly but her mother does not. Humans have created a carrot shortage and the rabbit's are starving. All of these things connect the two worlds and make it so they must work together to help each other. Wonderfully crafted story!

French folklore inspired the unusual plot of THE RABBIT’S GIFT, a fantasy full of purple carrots, cabbage-like plants called Chou, and rabbits. How they all fit together is quite unusual: Humans trade the carrots for Chou. Important because babies are grown in the plant and delivered by rabbits.
Dual narratives include Quincy who is a smaller than usual rabbit. The other voice is Fleurine, a twelve-year old inspiring botanist whose mom is the current ruler of the mythical country.

Fleurine secretly tries to grow purple carrots so she can have a baby sister. Her Maman doesn’t want another child and believes her daughter should stop this infatuation with science and follow in her political footsteps.

Meanwhile, the human demand for babies has dropped, and the rabbits are starving. Quincy decides to take matters into his own paws and sets out for the city, determined to find seeds and let the rabbits grow their own carrots. But that goes awry when he inadvertently leads Fleurine back to the top-secret Warren where the Chou are kept before delivery. This pits them against each other and jeopardizes the future of the entire country––for rabbits and humans alike.

There’s no clear antagonist/protagonist as both Quincy and Fleurine at times can be looked at either way. It’s an engaging way to tell a story as you move from one viewpoint to the other.

THE RABBIT’S GIFT is a story full of friendship, misunderstandings and adventure that is sure to please fantasy readers. The author’s previous book, The Wolf’s Curse, is a companion to The Rabbits Gift. You can read each one on their own as the first deals with end of life while the present is about a new life.

FIVE MORE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT THE RABBIT’S GIFT by Jessica Vitalis

1. I’m not a big fan of footnotes but the ones provided here are fun and informative. A perfect way to discover more about a character’s perspective.
2. Longer chapters are welcome for the established reader as they get wrapped up in a fantasy world.
3. Both Quincy and Fleurine are likeable despite their misguided actions. The author does a great job with their character arcs.
4. Finding a place in one’s community is a marvelous theme that will resonate with young readers.
5. Very lush and impactful imagery throughout. A good candidate for a read-aloud.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for an eARC of this book.

Fans of The Wolf’s Curse will love revisiting the well-crafted world that @jessicavauthor introduced us to in her debut novel. Although this book is a standalone, it has a similar feel to it. This fantasy features a rabbit named Quincy and a girl named Fleurine as its main protagonists. Quincy wants to help save his community from starvation but a decision to steal some purple carrot seeds from the humans results in Fleurine following him to get them back, and her theft of a chou (a baby that grows in a cabbage plant) from the rabbit’s crop. The resultant anger on both sides sets off an imbalance between their worlds that the pair must try to set right again.

Not only is this story imaginative and unique (based on a French myth), but there are some important lessons about interdependence and how taking too much of what doesn’t belong to you can have a negative ripple effect. I would love to read a third companion novel and spend more time in the lush world the author created.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed The Wolf's Curse and thought this book was even better (not always something I say for the second book an author publishes!) Although it is a companion novel to The Wolf's Curse, it is a stand alone novel and the companion book does not need to be read to enjoy this story. I liked that the book was told from both Quincy and Fleurine's point of view and I felt transported back to my childhood when I spent hours playing a board game where babies came from a cabbage patch :) 4.5 stars for The Rabbit's Gift.

Definitely think this will be great for fans of this author's The Wolf's Curse, Orphan Island and Scary Stories for Young Foxes. Wasn't as much like Watership Down as I thought it would be; I think that expectation was set up just by the over! This has much more of a fantasy feel to it.

A delicate balance exists between the humans who long for babies and the Angora Roux rabbits who cultivate them. In exchange for bunches of purple carrots, the Angora Roux bring Chou incubators to waiting human parents who are ready to welcome a child. But when the balance shifts and the rabbits are no longer receiving adequate compensation for their important work, the precarious relationship begins to crumble. And the question arises: will a human girl and an Angora Roux be able to see past their differences to reconcile the challenges they face before it is too late?

This heartfelt story is told from two perspectives: one human, one Angora Roux. Both characters are the heroes of their own stories, but each of their behavior adversely affects the other as the story progresses. Readers are immersed in a world over which the Great Maman presides, where humans and nature must work harmoniously together in order to survive. Carefully crafted details make this setting come alive, and readers will find themselves in a curious blend of Alice in Wonderland and King Louis XIV’s France, all under a unique and fantastic umbrella. Utilizing a blend of both real and creatively fictional French words, this story takes a familiar French term of endearment—mon petit chou—to a charming and unexpected destination.

While this story is a companion to The Wolf’s Curse, it is a standalone novel that readers can enjoy in any order. Many moments of the narrative are connected to events happening in the real world, from conflicts over goods and services to religious beliefs to the treatment of nature. On its surface, this book tells a fantastic interpretation of how human babies are made; beneath that, it is a guide for readers to look past their individual experiences to spend time walking in others’ shoes. Only by empathizing with others will humans gain the perspective necessary to make the changes that will protect the Earth in the long term. Middle grade readers will appreciate the footnotes peppered throughout the book that provide greater context for the story, and the lengthy chapters will especially appeal to more confident readers who enjoy immersive tales. This is a thought-provoking title to include in library collections for middle grade readers.

I adored Jessica Vitalis's THE WOLF'S CURSE and have been eagerly awaiting this one. Enter Quincy Rabbit and the creative, original world of this story. In exchange for the purple carrots they need to survive, the rabbits farm and deliver Chou de vie (cabbage-like plants that grow human babies inside) to the human citizens of Montpeyroux. I don't think I'd encountered a middle grade book dealing with a mythical origin for where babies came from and I was quite amused! The story is heart-warming, thought-provoking, and in the end, equally compelling as Ms. Vitalis's first book. Highly recommend!

I absolutely loved this inventive novel by Jessica Vitalis. Vivid imagery and magical storytelling combine to make an instant classic for me.

Happiness is a new book from the beautiful imagination and heart of Jessica Vitalis!

What a wonderful counter-point to her debut THE WOLF’S CURSE. While WOLF was a gentle and wonderous exploration of life (and the end of life) RABBIT explores terrain at the opposite end of the spectrum-- the mysteries, myths, and wonders of the beginning of life.

Told in dual POV through the eyes of Quincy, a determined young rabbit, and Fleurine, daughter of the Matriarch of the human society, this is a wonderous tale that explores the interconnection btw people and nature, myth and society, and the assumptions we make and the real truth.

With vivid imagery and lush prose, this is a beautiful exploration of privilege, the myths we build our entire societies around, and the very important and fundamental need to always look out from our own burrows.

A story that is at once mercurial and deeply grounded, THE RABBIT'S GIFT makes for a delightful, rich, and thought-provoking companion to THE WOLF'S CURSE!

Borne of a French myth in which babies grow in cabbage plants and are delivered to their human families by rabbits, THE RABBIT’S GIFT is a powerful story about the tenuous and magical place where the human and animal worlds intersect. Fleurine, the daughter of Montpeyroux’s leader, wants a sister with all her heart. Quincy Rabbit wants to prove himself by saving his family and community from the hunger caused by a human-made carrot shortage. When Fleurine's and Quincy's choices bring them into direct opposition with one another, they must ultimately recognize the ways their worlds are connected, and learn to trust one other to bring about the changes they both seek. These pages are suffused with gorgeous imagery about plants and the natural world. You can taste and smell and feel it: the potential in the seeds, the variegation in the leaves, the loam of the soil. And the mythology is seamlessly woven into the world-building, from the humans’ and rabbits’ deities (Grand Maman in the Moon and Great Maman Rabbit) to the beautifully built themes around privilege and the need to work together for the collective good. A gorgeous companion to Jessica Vitalis’ debut, THE WOLF’S CURSE. My thanks to the author and to Greenwillow for the eARC.

This book is filled with imagination and adventure! The story unfolds through the alternating perspectives of the two main characters and brings readers into an enchanting land where rabbits tend to and deliver babies to the human world. I love the way this story unfolds and how it transports readers to another place.

Get lost in this land of magical rabbits and purple carrots. I loved every word of this book as I hopped along with Quincy and ran alongside Fleurine. Jessica has told another amazing story with The Rabbit’s Gift.

The Rabbit's Gift by Jessica Vitalis is a middle grade fantasy set in an alternate world where rabbits grow human babies in cabbage-like plants. Humans, in exchange for this service, humans provide the rabbits with the purple carrots they need to survive. In the tradition of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh and Watership Down, Jessica Vitalis has created a complex society of animals in a magical, alternate-universe France which we learn to navigate through the alternating voices of one girl and one rabbit whose lives intersect in a scene reminiscent of Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit. The backstory of the land of Montpeyroux and the human-rabbit relationship is fascinating; I would love to read a prequel set in that ancient society.

I can never resist a good rabbit story, but I must admit that fantasy is not usually my preferred genre. Despite the plethora of rabbit tales on the market, Jessica Vitalis has managed to create a unique and compelling narrative with relatable and inspiring characters. The dilemmas faced by the characters provide ample fodder for group discussion and individual contemplation. I hope we get to read more about Quincy, Fleurine, and their future exploits in books to come.

I loved The Wolf's Curse, to which this book is a companion, but you don't need to have read Jessica Vitalis' first book in order to enjoy--and love--this one. The Rabbit's Gift is narrated by two charming, unique characters: Quincy, a rabbit, and Fleurine, the human daughter of the ruler. As they both want to make changes in their lives and their worlds, their paths intersect in fresh and unexpected ways. The writing in this middle grade is full of lush descriptions with the kind of world-building and narrative authority found in classic stories. Yet it's groundbreaking in terms of theme, including the matriarchal societal structure, making this novel feel incredibly special and contemporary. Given the French-inspired setting, I liken The Rabbit's Gift to a "souffle of a novel." You'll want to treat yourself to this one!

Honestly, it just wasn't for me. There wasn't anything "wrong" with it, I just couldn't get into the characters or the plot. Every book their reader, right?