Kirkus Reviews QR Code
A TASTE FOR RABBIT by Linda Zuckerman

A TASTE FOR RABBIT

by Linda Zuckerman

Pub Date: Oct. 1st, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-439-86977-5
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic

This uneven allegory will have a difficult time finding an audience. Two societies of polytheistic, sentient, clothed adult animals are suffering the effects of a harsh winter. Quentin is a scholarly rabbit who lives under stringent military laws. Families of rabbits are disappearing, and he and his friends believe the government may be behind it. Harry, a fox, is living in poverty until his rich, cruel younger brother Isaac makes him an offer: If Harry can find out why Isaac’s scouts are not returning from their missions to the fortress protecting the rabbit warren, Isaac will pay him generously. Along the way, Quentin and Harry both learn the truth behind the other’s deeply corrupt yet intelligent world. In their travels, Harry and Quentin are both helped in their search for the truth by neutral animals like badgers and raccoons, but although their stories intertwine, they only briefly converge. Disguising human nature behind animals works in picture books, but the tween and teen target audience of this book will probably not want to read a book about talking animals, especially talking animals who are parents and business owners rather than teens. The frustrating lack of closure begs for a sequel. (Fiction. 10-14)