Rabbit Rabbit

Gr 6 Up–Cousins Bethany (Bee) and Alice, both 12, haven’t seen each other since kindergarten, when “something big” came between their moms. Bee lives in rural Minnesota, comes from a very conservative and strict Lutheran family, and is a studious bookworm. Green-haired Alice lives in liberal Seattle, is into roller derby, and struggles in school. Alice and Bee reunite at their grandparents’ 50th anniversary party and develop a strong bond despite their differences. The family rift pulls them apart once again, and it is further compounded by the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent shutting down of schools across the county. Told in Bee’s and Alice’s alternating first-person voices and texts, the girls struggle to maintain a relationship across the country while trying to find out what happened in their family. They are supportive of each other’s differences, and show more maturity than the adults in their lives. Many heavier topics are mentioned or integral to the story, including abortion, racism, questioning one’s sexuality, homophobia, and the grandfather’s verbal assaults (which are not questioned by the adults). Readers who remember the fears and prejudices during the pandemic will identify with the setting and time period. The conservative versus liberal family conflicts come across as fairly one-dimensional, with both sides seeming more extreme than is realistic.