The Last Rabbit

December 15, 2020
Four young Irish sisters, orphaned during World War II, are sent to a magical island where they are turned into rabbits--and now, the island is sinking. "I wasn't always a rabbit--that much I can tell you." So begins the epic adventure of a fluffy white rabbit named Albie. She is one of four sisters sent by their dying mother to the magical island of Hybrasil. Albie, being the wildest of the four, tries to conjure her mother back to life. Instead, she turns the four girls into rabbits. At first, the story is as light and lively as a bunny, but there are hints of the dangers to come as the mysterious Boy and his boat arrive. One at a time, he takes Albie's sisters away--anywhere they wish to go, at which point they turn back into girls--until only Albie is left. The pacing intensifies when the ferryman Barinthus appears, followed by a sluagh, a spirit who takes souls, both figures from Celtic mythology. Albie jumps through time and space, visiting each of her sisters, yet Thomas never loses the thread of the story, keeping Albie and her destiny at the dizzying eye of the hurricane. This is a spellbinding and heart-racing fairy tale about family, loss, and redemption wrapped up in magic and mythology. Final art not seen. An enchanting and imaginative adventure. (map, author's note) (Fantasy. 8-12)

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Starred review from January 4, 2021
Thomas (Secrets of Selkie Bay) blends life lessons and magical elements in an imaginative journey of mourning and maturation. After the deaths of their magician mother and pilot father in WWII London, narrator Albie and her three sisters, all Irish, are sent not back to Cork, but to Hybrasil, an enchanted sinking island, to live with an old man known as the Magician—their maternal grandfather, whom they’ve never met. Soon after, Albie’s magical attempt to bring her mother back turns the girls into rabbits, an occurrence that can only be reversed by each leaving the island. One by one, they must willingly head out to discover their destinies, ferried to their destination by the Boy and protected by the Magician’s weakening magic. At book’s start, only curious Albie remains, listening to the versifying sea, reading the Magician’s papers, and stubbornly refusing to take on the unknown, despite the old man’s insistence that “sometimes letting go is courageous.” In Albie’s strong first-person voice, Thomas narrates the rabbit’s journey through time and space and her attempts to reassemble her family, exploring the cost of action and inaction via an immersive adventure that references Celtic folklore and children’s classics. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–up. Agent: Jordan Hamessley, New Leaf Literary.

January 1, 2021

Gr 5-7-Eleven-year-old Albie is a rabbit who used to be a girl. At the start of World War II, following the death of her fighter-pilot father, Albie and her three sisters were sent from their home in Cork to Hybrasil, an island off the coast of Ireland, and placed in the care of an old Magician. Rebellious Albie, experimenting with one of her mother's spells, inadvertently turned all four girls into rabbits, and now, two years later, their mother has been killed in the London blitz. Caragh, Isolde, and Rosina have all reverted to their girlhood state by leaving the island with the Boy, who ferries them to their chosen destinies. When the sea speaks to her in poems and the Magician reveals family secrets, a resistant Albie finally agrees to leave the sinking island to search for her sisters and fulfill her own destiny. With hints of Celtic and Greek mythology, fantastic creatures, and familial devotion, the story is full of action and manages to tie up many threads for a satisfying conclusion. An author's note explains that the island of Hybrasil appeared on ancient maps until the 13th century. Line drawings appear throughout. VERDICT A strong choice for fantasy readers with enough reading skill to handle many narrative twists and turns.-Marie Orlando, formerly at Suffolk Coop. Lib. Syst., Bellport, NY

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