Escape from Hat

November 15, 2019
A lucky rabbit must escape from the depths of a magic hat to reunite with the boy he protects. Cecil Bean has both bad luck and good luck because everyone in the world, according to this outlandish fantasy, has both a black cat that crosses their paths and a personal lucky rabbit. In Cecil's case, Millikin the cat is determined to ruin the boy's life while Leek the rabbit wants to keep him safe. Their conflict comes to a head when a traveling charlatan with a stolen magic hat puts Leek into the hat during a performance. The act sends Leek to an inhospitable realm called Hat, also Millikin's homeland, where he meets other rabbits who've suffered the same fate. The tale picks up even more speed as Leek meets rabbit doe Morel, and the two set out for the fortress of the black cats, where they can return to their humans through magic. Nonstop action, with plenty of excrement jokes, carries readers along as the rabbits encounter unusual creatures, a few monsters, and an epic cat-and-mouse chase on their way. Meanwhile, Cecil, hoping to save Leek, learns to make his own luck. Although Morel defies gender stereotypes as a sword-wielding leader, a jungle-dwelling community of pierced, tattooed, and breechcloth-clad potbelly pigs reinforces those often assigned to Indigenous peoples. All human characters assume the white default. Taylor's full-color, animation-inflected illustrations appear throughout. Odd but not without some appeal. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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January 13, 2020
Screenwriter Kline and artist Taylor collaborate in this funny, originally self-published saga meshing fantasy and farce and pitting good against evil. Cecil Bean’s assigned black cat, Millikin, and rabbit, Leek, are respectively responsible for the boy’s swings of bad and good luck. But things run amok when Leek disappears into the top hat of a swindling magician and surfaces in the land of Hat, home to Millikin and fellow nefarious felines and to other (quickly multiplying) banished rabbits. Learning that a tower in the cats’ fortress holds magic that can return him and his peers to their humans, Leek and another rabbit set out to find it. On their madcap journey, they encounter a traveling minstrel mouse, a potbellied pig (king of the Miniature Potbellies), and a cave monster who’s afraid of the dark. Meanwhile, Cecil embarks on his own risky quest to procure the itinerant magician’s hat in hopes of bringing Leek home. Distinct, droll voices and comedic wordplay help maintain a breakneck pace, while vibrant pictures of the wide-eyed rabbits and their dastardly counterparts radiate an energetic cartoon sensibility. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12.

January 24, 2020

Gr 3-7-In this world, everyone has good and bad luck, courtesy of personal good-luck rabbits and bad-luck black cats that are rarely even noticed. Cecil Bean is no exception-until the day his black cat, Millikin, decides he's had enough of Leek the good-luck rabbit and his interference. So Millikin hatches a plan to send Leek far away, deep into the land within a magician's hat. Now both Cecil and Leek must do everything within their power to be reunited. Set partly in the sinister world of Hat and partly in an 1800s-esque reality where children use phrases like "cut of your jib" but also know what Chevy Corvairs are, this title is a little too clever for its own good. The writing has the feel of a Roald Dahl or James Thurber text, without the patina of years to explain its old-timey language and give it true classic status. And despite being short for a middle grade novel, much of the narration and dialogue seems better suited for an adult audience; only a particularly precocious younger reader would finish on their own. VERDICT A good recommendation for adults seeking cheeky classics for read-aloud but whose children have already read through the library's selection. Strictly an additional purchase.-Kaitlin Frick, Darien Library, CT

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