Adelaide's Secret World

November 27, 2017
A slender, humanlike rabbit named Adelaide works in a small storefront
that was once bustling, “but over time, Adelaide found herself all alone, and the quiet stillness crept into her heart and stayed.” She crafts tiny figurines of other lonely animals she sees in her city, including a solitary fox who sits near her shop. When he drops his book, she returns it, but she’s too overcome to speak. That evening, a strange storm gives Adelaide fresh inspiration and the courage to change. Australian artist Hurst’s painterly spreads are lush and bewitching. Her story unfolds in an alternate world in which curiosities lurk in unexpected corners: Chinese junks ply the air above the city, and a school of goldfish floats outside Adelaide’s shop window. The rabbit’s unexplained shyness and sense of loss may puzzle some readers; her deep feelings for the fox offer hints of romance. As sunshine breaks through the clouds, Adelaide has festooned her city with lengths of red ribbon, bringing its citizens together. It’s a cryptic conclusion, but Hurst’s dazzling images will leave readers eager to puzzle out the mysteries of Adelaide’s world. Ages 5–9.

November 15, 2017
Amid a teeming city, bustling with smartly dressed bears, foxes, cats, humans, and ostriches, rabbit Adelaide spends each day alone in her workshop safely behind a soft, red curtain. This rabbit's sensitivity, her glistening, emotive eyes, and her pert ears bring to mind other anthropomorphized bunnies: Margery Williams and William Nicholson's Velveteen Rabbit, Beatrix Potter's rabbit broods, DuBose Heyward and Marjorie Flack's country bunny and her little gold shoes, and even the psychological complexity of the scrambling rabbits of Watership Down. Moving, impressionistic oil paintings endow Adelaide with the same searing sentience, pathos, and intellect of these antecedents. Her wrenching isolation, loneliness, and ultimate desire for connection make this picture book perfectly suited for older readers. Fantastic flourishes will appeal to children of all ages; fish and sailboats fly through the streets, animals populate an urban city center, while a fox and Adelaide unknowingly document each other's lives through art. When a storm blows, forcing them to collide, readers' human hearts sing. Masterful artwork, streaked with breathtaking brush strokes and daubs of pigment, easily makes up for sometimes-unimaginative language. These portraits of animals struggling with human feelings startle with their emotional exactitude, empathy, and expert execution.Complex feelings articulated through heart-rending paintings that beg return visits. (Picture book. 5-14)

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January 1, 2018

K-Gr 2-Adelaide, an elegant rabbit, lives alone in a formerly busy storefront that used to manufacture and sell small music boxes and other objets d'art. As an adult, she finds herself living a solitary existence where she observes life without taking part. From her window or a high vantage point, Adelaide watches other members of her community which includes humans as well as elephants, bears, foxes, and other rabbits. One day, her loneliness drives her outdoors and when the weather turns nasty, she makes a connection that turns her world around. Charming painterly surrealistic illustrations reveal Adelaide sitting on her rooftop greeting the day while a gondola sails through the sky and fish swim in schools high in the air. Hurst's paintings are impressive as they range from the smallest details to seemingly loose brushstrokes that reveal realistic windowpanes, rain, wind, and puddles on the street. Adelaide's candles that she arranges on her rooftop glow with warmth and light in red, orange, and yellow. VERDICT This quiet story about at how reaching out to others improves one's own life will encourage children in taking the first step toward friendship. Best shared one-on-one to pore over the lovely artwork.-Maryann H. Owen, Oak Creek Public Library WI

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