The Rabbit's Gift

Quincy Rabbit loves his family and their humble life in the Warren, but how he wishes that he wasn't a runt. If only he was big and strong like his brother Durrell. Then, surely the Committee would assign him to transport duty which would give him the chance to see the world outside of the Warren and to have grand adventures. Alas, it would seem that his lot in life is to tend the fields of Chou de vie, the plants that resemble cabbages but contain babies, and to help prepare them for delivery to the humans. The humans of Montpeyroux then leave bundles of purple carrots in exchange for a baby-bearing Chou. Maman claims that farming and tending the Chou is noble and important, but Quincy longs to be part of the crew that transplants the Chou and brings the much-needed purple carrots back to the Warren.

But then, things have not been exactly idyllic on that front as of late. The humans have been requesting fewer babies, meaning that the rabbits' supply of purple carrots is rapidly dwindling. Quincy and his siblings, along with all the other Angora Roux rabbits, are feeling the pangs of hunger, and there is great concern in the Warren. How will they survive if the purple carrot allotments continue to decline? Quincy wonders why the Angora Roux can't just grow their own carrots. Why should they be forced to rely on the humans anyway? So he devises a plan to sneak into Montpeyroux, steal some purple carrot seeds and hopefully save the rabbits from certain starvation.

Meanwhile in Montpeyroux, Fleurine d'Aubigné, the daughter of the Grande Lumiere, also has a keen interest in purple carrots. While she loves science and botany in particular, she is also anxious to produce her own crop of purple carrots so she can leave them in exchange for a Chou de vie...and the baby sister she has always wanted. Having a sister would ease her loneliness and would hopefully take some of Maman's attention off her. Maybe her sister could be the future leader that her mother so desperately wants Fleurine to be. Maybe then Fleurine could be free to pursue her dream of studying botany at an academy of science.

But when Quincy makes his foray into Montpeyroux and returns to the Warren with the purple carrot seeds, Fleurine follows him. And she, in turn, steals a Chou, reasoning that surely the rabbits won't miss one wee little Chou. But these actions have significant consequences, and both Quincy and Fleurine must struggle to undo the damage they have done. Once Fleurine is back in Montpeyroux, she tries everything that she can think of to transplant the precious Chou and keep the baby within it alive while Quincy rushes back to the city to retrieve the stolen plant and bring it back to the Warren where it belongs. Ultimately, the two must work together and put the needs of others ahead of their own in order to save the Chou and to restore peace between the Angora Roux and the humans.

In this companion novel to The Wolf's Curse, Jessica Vitalis provides a thought-provoking tale that looks at the same story from two very different points of view. With both Quincy and Fleurine sharing narrative duties, readers get to see the situation from their opposing perspectives. In seeing both sides of the story, readers are invited to consider how “sometimes the only difference between a hero and a villain is which side you are on.” Both characters are fully-realized and believable. They are flawed but endearing in their vulnerability. Quincy wants so desperately to prove himself but is humbled and dismayed when he realizes that, by attempting to be a hero, he has managed to wreak havoc and endanger the Warren. Similarly, Quincy is so focused on her own desire to have a sister that she puts that quest above all else. But in the course of her journey, she becomes friends with Elodie, her servant girl, whom she comes to see and understand in a whole new light. And as she starts to recognize the suffering and hardship that Elodie and her family have endured, she begins to see her own life situation in a broader context. Both she and Quincy come to see that their actions affect others and oftentimes in ways that they can't begin to imagine. They learn that empathy, self-sacrifice and co-operation are the things that will enable them to right the wrongs they have each committed and to make lasting contributions to resolving the larger problems that their communities are wrestling with. Like The Wolf's Curse, The Rabbit's Gift is an engaging fairytale-like story that gives readers of all ages much to think about.