Alice's Farm

May 4, 2020
This captivating, wry novel opens with the revelation that the longstanding antagonism between farmers and rabbits is rooted in vegetables, which “farmers love to grow, and rabbits love to eat.” After Alice, a curious rabbit kit, watches the Harvey family move into a deserted farmhouse, she and her brother sneak onto the property and overhear disconcerting news: a greedy developer is intent on buying the property from the Harveys, city folk determined to become farmers. As the young rabbits plant and tend to a thriving vegetable garden in hopes of helping the family make a go of it, the Harveys’ intuitive dog, Foxy, becomes their ally, at one point musing that properly running a farm is
“a subject much too vital to leave to her humans.” Into this heartwarming portrait of animal camaraderie (which is shared by a fox, a bald eagle, and other wildlife), Wood (the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series) weaves the story of 10-year-old Carl Harvey’s rocky adjustment to his new life, burgeoning self-confidence and maturity, and paramount contribution to his family’s triumph. A resonant cross-species saga of perseverance, loyalty, and magnanimous friendship. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Brooks Sherman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

May 8, 2020

Gr 3-5-Farmers and rabbits have a great literary history as enemies, but what might they accomplish if they worked together? Wood offers a fanciful twist on Peter Rabbit, toggling between the rabbit world and the human world, tracking a pair of adventurous kits and a young family that has moved from Brooklyn to try their hands at farming. The pace is a bit slow and some of the jokes (about hipsters, primarily) may be better suited to an adult audience. That said, the focus on the natural world, quirky characters, and whimsical adventures make this a good read-aloud candidate for fans of Charlotte's Web or other gentle farm stories. VERDICT Not a first purchase, but a sweet option for those looking for a slower-paced animal story.-Gesse Stark-Smith, Multnomah County Lib., Portland, OR

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2020
With the future of their valley home at stake, two brave young rabbits take up farming. The farm's newbie human owners include the Harvey parents, country enthusiasts newly liberated from office life; son Carl, 10, who misses Brooklyn; daughter Marie, 1; and the family's shiba inu, Foxy. When an intimidating local developer drops by, hoping to pressure the na�ve Harveys into selling, young Alice and her brother, Thistle, two rabbits, overhear the sales pitch. After Lester, a burrow elder who's eaten his way through farm catalogs, tells them that development will destroy their valley, Alice hatches a plan to make the Harveys' farm succeed. Challenges quickly mount. To obtain and plant seeds, weed, and keep hungry critters away from them when they sprout, Alice must incentivize interspecies cooperation. Recruits, wild and tame, are needed: a fox, bald eagle, chipmunks, voles, Foxy, baby Marie (an adept interspecies interpreter), and Carl, providing human cover for the rabbit farmers. The effort will eventually ensnare neighbors, ornithologists, and locavore chefs along with the editors of Hipster Farmer magazine. Like the denizens of E.B. White's Charlotte's Web, these characters--animal and human, predator and prey--are lovingly observed. They are a deeply engaging, mostly endearing bunch whose natures may put them at odds but who share a world. Human characters follow a White default. Stoutly non-speciesist, this is an effervescent delight. (author's note) (Animal fiction. 8-12)

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Starred review from September 1, 2020
Grades 4-6 *Starred Review* Venturing, as the author readily acknowledges in her afterword, into Charlotte's Web territory, Wood crafts a tale of interspecies cooperation in a rural setting that is lit up with exhibitions of uncommon courage, loyalty, humor, and tolerance?not to mention extreme cuteness. Electrified by her old bunny mentor's terrifying tales of "The Mauler"?a roaring, orange, earth-digging monster?first-year cottontail Alice nerves herself to set aside her natural timorousness, as well as millennia of conflicting agendas, and intrepidly sets out to help the new owners of run-down Prune Street Farm by enlisting fellow rabbits and making deals with local predators to tend its vegetable patch. Fortunately, the clueless but hardworking Harveys, fresh from Brooklyn, have a friendly neighbor and a supportive rural community, not to mention a toddler and a small dog who both understand the language of the local wildlife. Then there's mopey 10-year-old Carl, resilient enough to take in stride the eventual discovery that the bountiful garden didn't just magically grow itself and, by the end, to grow himself into his new life. Along with worthy values aplenty, this bustling tale offers a villainous real-estate speculator to hiss, a cast bustling with talking animals, and a long-eared protagonist who goes on to a fitting end (for a rabbit) and well merits her valedictory: Farewell, sweet Alice! A bunny among bunnies, indeed. Terrific.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)