- a community of jackrabbits find their peaceful lands invaded by evil coyotes
- strong family units, a tornado, difficult journeys, new friends, and an ultimate page-turning defeat of the enemy
- convo points: battles, several deaths, wine mentioned, pipe smoking
- religious elements: friars, compline, vigil, emphasis on tradition, praying to “the Swiftness” (their God figure)
- language: imbecile x1, stupid x1, “Well, I’ll be fluffed.” x1, fart x1
- includes neat map that helps visualize the scenes
Type: chapter book
Ages: 8-12
Author: Kevin T. Ford
Illustrator: Michael Genova
This debut novel of Ford’s was outstanding. It’s still hard for me to believe it’s his first published book! The story has a steady theme of good vs. bad as well as great examples of courage, perseverance, loyalty, responsibility and more. Honestly, it could be read to ages below 8 depending on the child. The only truly intense chapters are 15 and 16, if you want to pre-read those. The rest is more like a gentle adventure.
The nature imagery throughout the book is probably my favorite part. It is kept brief but, because so well-written, can easily be visualized. There is also a particular race described so vividly, it’ll take your own breath away!
Embedded throughout, little nuggets of wisdom make their timely appearances. They are effective and thought-provoking without feeling straight-up didactic. Here are only a few of my many highlights:
“If you live your life only as you want, you may make things easy for yourself but harder for everyone else.”
“…the suffering he had endured was changing his heart.”
“One should do what one is most gifted at doing…If we all did thus, the kingdom would be ever richer for it.”
“If you wish to harvest a good crop, you must be diligent in doing the hundred things that are not harvesting a crop first.”
“How often had fear increased the size of the obstacles in his life?”
Good guys: jackrabbits, squirrels, prairie dogs, porcupine, armadillo
Bad guys: coyotes, badger, owl, ferrets, wolves, muskrats
Overall, I am quite happy to recommend such a good, clean read for children. There were a few things I wanted more of, so I’m hoping they’ll be in the upcoming sequel. Happy reading!