| Title | : | Rabbit Chase |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1773216198 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781773216195 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 120 |
| Publication | : | First published April 1, 2022 |
Aimée, a non-binary Anishinaabe middle-schooler, is on a class trip to offer gifts to Paayehnsag, the water spirits known to protect the land. While stories are told about the water spirits and the threat of the land being taken over for development, Aimée zones out, distracting themselves from the bullying and isolation they’ve experienced since expressing their non-binary identity. When Aimée accidentally wanders off, they are transported to an alternate dimension populated by traditional Anishinaabe figures in a story inspired by Alice in Wonderland.
To gain the way back home, Aimée is called on to help Trickster by hunting down dark water spirits with guidance from Paayehnsag. On their journey, Aimée faces off with the land-grabbing Queen and her robotic guards and fights the dark water spirits against increasingly stacked odds. Illustrated by KC Oster with a modern take on their own Ojibwe style and cultural representation, Rabbit Chase is a story of self-discovery, community, and finding one’s place in the world.
Rabbit Chase Reviews
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This was a well-executed Alice in Wonderland graphic novel retelling featuring Aimée, a non-binary Anishnaabe middle-schooler who loves videogames and finds herself stuck in an alternate universe on a class trip. To escape she needs to help Trickster Rabbit track down dark water spirits and save the land from the Evil Queen.
The book touches on issues of gender identity, pronouns and land rights in a relatable and accessible way for children with great illustrations and a useful glossary of Anishinaabe terms for the language used throughout the book. Highly recommended, especially for fans of Wab Kinew's Floraverse series. -
3.5 rounded to 4. Aimée goes on a field trip for indigenous students but gets lost in the woods and meets a few strange people and creatures. Rabbit Chase is sometimes quite a crazy mix of coming-of-age of a nonbinary, Anishinaabe folklore, Alice in Wonderland, and even the world of computer games and technology.
I must admit I know nothing about Anishinaabe’s culture and beliefs. So I was a bit lost sometimes. When I finished reading, I learned that there are translations at the back. It would be better if I knew that during my reading.
The colored illustrations are very good. Colors are different in a regular and the other world. Rabbit Chase is a nice middle-grade graphic novel for those who like unusual stories like Alice in Wonderland.
Thanks to Annick Press for the ARC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review, and all opinions are my own. -
This is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. It is supposed to convey the history of a specific indigenous tribe but that story is so lost. There is so many indigenous words with no explanation within the story. luckily there’s a glossary in the back. You also have a little bit of the main character coming out or revealing their non-binary and I don’t get why that’s important to the story because it seems like it’s thrown in their as an extra thing rather than as an important function to the story. This book just feels all over the place it’s hard to understand, and hard to follow. The reader gets the feel of Alice in wonderland and its familiar looking glass, but I’m sorry this is a broken looking glass.
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5/5 stars - I adore this book. I'm currently a middle school teacher in my Anishinaabe community and this book is everything! I bought a digital copy first (I can't stand waiting for books to come in the mail), read it in one sitting, and immediately ordered a physical copy for my classroom. I'm obsessed.
Content warnings: bullying, transphobia, depiction of drowning
Aimée is a non-binary Anishinaabe middle schooler, and when we first meet them, they're being picked on by non-native classmates for their gender identity. They go on a class trip with other Indigenous students to take part in a ceremony, and this offers some reprieve from the bullying. There, much to the chagrin of the trip chaperones, Aimée is glued to their phone screen. They're so distracted, in fact, that they wander into what seems to be the spirit world. In a quick turn of events, they are shouldered with the responsibility to help fight dark water spirits alongside Trickster and other friends. Between the land-hungry Queen, her robots, and one gossip-y tea party, Aimée must find inner strength to take on this huge fight.
First of all, I love love love casual queer representation. Of course, Aimée's gender identity and the way they are treated because of it contributes to their inner conflict, but it's not the entire focus of the book. Queer readers already know that transphobia is an issue, and the writers took care not to make trauma the focus of this story. We can feel Aimée's pain without reliving our own.
The inclusion of Ojibwe language throughout the book is also super exciting. I was so glad that the writers didn't stop to give an English translation of every word. Maintaining the clarity of the narrative while also not centering the English language had to have been a tough balance, but they did an incredible job with it.
I'm so thrilled about this light-hearted, whimsical, visually stunning and accessible story. I had several students in mind when I finished reading and I can't wait to show off this book in my classroom. Incredible work. -
Aimee is an indigenous non-binary middle schooler who goes on a class trip and gets transported to a Wonderland and has adventures similar to Alice. This was one of the most creative graphic novels I’ve read in a while and it was totally engrossing. The artwork, while in the artistic style of Telgemeier and will undoubtedly draw the kiddos, is eye-popping and solidly engaging on it’s own merit. The storyline is east to follow with nice unexpected twists along the way. Such a refreshing addition to my MS collection.
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A creative mashup of Alice in Wonderland with Ashinaabe traditions and folklore. The quest gets a little muddled at times, but a nice balance is found between fun adventure, personal issues for the nonbinary protagonist, and jabs at land rights injustices.
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I picked this randomly from a shelf, and what a great surprise! An indigenous retelling of a classic story, and with a nonbinary main character and wonderful art. Nicely done.
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A very enjoyable tale! This is an Anishinaabe retelling of Alice in Wonderland, with characters from Anishinaabe mythology filling in for the original characters, and touching on Indigenous and gender issues, including bullying and feeling unseen, "invisible." Our protagonist, Aimee, is a non-binary Anishinaabe middle schooler on a school trip to give offerings to the Paayehnsag, water spirits that protect the land. Aimee is distracted by playing games on their phone, and takes a different path than their classmates in the woods, leading them into a Wonderland-ish world filled with beings from Anishinaabe myths. Aimee agrees to help the mythical beings defeat the Evil Queen trying to take their land (mirroring events in Aimee's world), in exchange for them helping Aimee find their way home. Anishinaabe words and phrases are used throughout the story, and there's a helpful glossary at the end of the book, but the text would've benefited from the translations being on the page rather than having to flip back and forth (or waiting till you've finished if reading an e-book version as I did), and pronunciation guides would've been helpful. In fairness, I read a DRC and haven't seen the published book, so that may have changed. Also, I found the ending a little vague, I was left not really knowing if the Wonderland-ish world got the help it needed or not. The illustrations were really nice, I enjoyed the art style and the vibrant colors! Definitely recommended!
#RabbitChase #NetGalley -
Rabbit Chase is a story of self-discovery, community, and finding one's place in the world. It was a fun mix of Anishinaabe culture and storytelling, and an Alice in Wonderland retelling that explores Indigenous and gender issues through a fresh yet familiar looking glass.
Aimée, a nonbinary Anishinaabe middle-schooler, is on a class trip to offer gifts to Paayehnsag, the water spirits known to protect the land. While stories are told about the water spirits and the threat of the land being taken over for development, Aimée accidentally wanders off, and they are transported to an alternate dimension.
I loved how the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ elements were familiar, yet different. Each one tied into Anishinaabe culture, so the journey was educational and exciting. There is a glossary of used Anishinaabe words in the back, as to not distract from the text. This representation is so, so important!
Aimée is bullied at school for their gender identity, and even a school figure makes snide remarks. My only wish is that this was challenged a bit more in the book.
About the creators: Elizabeth LaPensée, Ph.D. is of Irish, Anishinaabe, and Métis descent. KC Oster (he/she/they) is an Ojibwe-Anishinaabe.
Content warnings: bullying, misgendering
Thank you NetGalley and Annick Press for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. Publication date 4/5/22! -
A great Anishinaabe story of their little people who seek offerings of copper and candy, in an Alice in Wonderland framework, where Alice is a kid named Aimee who does not fit in. Aimee gets lost on a field trip and gets lost in a wondrous journey threatened by a land-hungry queen. The rabbit takes a more active role here than in Alice because he's a trickster. Aimee makes the sensible choice not to trust the trickster but he's trying to guide her home, maybe, while also doing a redemption of himself as a warrior trapped by malign forces in a lake thing. The characters use more Ojibwe words and phrases than I've ever seen in a book before and I had to consult the glossary a bunch. Hopefully this book is meaningful to the youth I assume it is intended for. I found it educational and charming.
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The ARC I read was so poorly formatted that this was extremely hard to follow, but I like the art and the concept so I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt here.
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I was excited for this book. It's a new take on the Alice in Wonderland story with Ojibwe bits and words throughout the book, but I really hated how I had go back and forth to the glossary to figure out what the word/s meant. It would have been better if the English translation was right after the Ojibwe/Anishinaabemowin word/s or have the English translation as a footnote at the bottom of the page. Going back and forth to the glossary was really annoying and it took part of the story away instead of being entirely focused on what was happening.
The illustrations were great, but I felt like the story lacked direction. The cool part about the main character is that they are nonbinary. They have 100 percent support from their family, but unfortunately have zero support from a teacher. I don't really know who that man was who called Aimée she/her instead of the correct pronouns was. I'm assuming their classroom teacher, but then who's the lady on the field trip?? Another teacher? I feel like that wasn't properly explained/introduced. I also found the flashbacks weirdly timed. -
Aimee is a non-binary Anishinaabe middle school puple. The Anishinaabe people are an indigenous group who come from the area of what we call the Great Lakes region.
Aimee is part of an indigineous students association that are going on a field trip to visit Paayehsag, known as water spirits to give offerings to them. Aimee is totally not engaged, because they are playing a game on their phone, and don’t want to be distracted from it.
So, still playing their game, they wander off, and meet first a white rabbit, then a mad hatter, then an evil queen, who wants to take all the water, and all the land, and all the hunting rights, and anything she can from the people.
Sometimes Aimee helps, other times, as kids do, they do things stupidly.
But it is a strong story, and uses the Anishinaabe language thrown in, so we can learn a few words, such as thank you, and yes, and strawberries.
A fine addition to any library, because representation matters, and it is good to learn that you are not alone, or, as an ally, what others go through.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review, -
I felt like this Alice in Wonderland/gaming mashup set in an alternate world was all over the place. Main character, Aimée, is bullied and non-supported as they identify as non-binary yet we are not given a chance to fully resonate with them as much of their backstory is only shown through flashbacks that aren't really explained. Like the tricksters in this story we hop from one plot line to the next, yet many things aren't allowed to fully develop or connect with us as readers.
Equally frustrating as I am zhaagnaashag was my continuous need to keep one finger in the front of the book where the translations were so that I could flip back and forth as every single page had at least one word that needed to be translated. This messed with the flow of the story for me. I really wanted to like this story and learn more, instead I finished frustrated. -
This slim graphic novel engages with a lot of big ideas very impressively. Aimée is an indigenous, nonbinary middle schooler who embarks on several journeys: on a class field trip with the students that bully them, to a magical land in which imagery from native folklore and Alice in Wonderland share space, and one of self-discovery and self-acceptance. It’s about so much: identity, community, marginalization, the weight of history, growing up. I thoroughly enjoyed following Aimée throughout their adventures, as well as the beautiful artwork and character design. Highly recommended.
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Rabbit Chase is billed as "Anishinaabe culture and storytelling meet Alice in Wonderland" in a middle grade graphic novel. From the blurb on Goodreads:
"Aimée, a non-binary Anishinaabe middle-schooler, is on a class trip to offer gifts to Paayehnsag, the water spirits known to protect the land. While stories are told about the water spirits and the threat of the land being taken over for development, Aimée zones out, distracting themselves from the bullying and isolation they’ve experienced since expressing their non-binary identity. When Aimée accidentally wanders off, they are transported to an alternate dimension populated by traditional Anishinaabe figures in a story inspired by Alice in Wonderland.
To gain the way back home, Aimée is called on to help Trickster by hunting down dark water spirits with guidance from Paayehnsag. On their journey, Aimée faces off with the land-grabbing Queen and her robotic guards and fights the dark water spirits against increasingly stacked odds. Illustrated by KC Oster with a modern take on their own Ojibwe style and cultural representation, Rabbit Chase is a story of self-discovery, community, and finding one’s place in the world."
Why did I quote this blurb? Because even after reading the story two times, I still couldn't figure out what it was about. My co-reviewer had the exact same problem. The trouble starts early on. While the blurb identifies the Paayehnsag as water spirits who are known to protect the land, there is nothing in the actual text that identifies them in this way, leading to a sense of disconnection that winds its way throughout the entire novel. We had no sense that a ceremony presented at the beginning of the book had anything to do with land protection, which would have made a real difference later on when we meet the Red Queen and her gang of techno-bots who want to take over Wonderland. (It's important to note that readers familiar with Anishinaabe culture might not have needed this clarification.) Using the Red Queen to explore the history of colonial land grabs is inspired, and it neatly dovetails with Aimée's resistance in school to the idea that Columbus 'discovered' America. However, without the links between ceremony and teachings about the land being made more explicit, a non-Anishinaabe reader may experience the story as a series of disconnected chapters, lacking a unifying narrative thread. We also felt that the Anishinaabe words would have been better placed in the footnotes, as readers not familiar with the language can end up flipping back and forth between the glossary and the story, interrupting the flow of the reading.
In the original Alice books, Alice's thinking is continuously challenged through disruption and chaos - a perfect fit for Trickster. While Trickster takes the shape of a White Rabbit, he behaves more like an Elder than a disrupter. I thought that a Cheshire Cat-like character, disappearing and reappearing at will to dispense advice that may or may not be entirely true, might have been a better fit. A more chaotic Trickster would have forced Aimée to think for themselves, which could have resulted in a stronger climax when they finally do battle with their self-doubts as well as their adversary. As they've been socially isolated and bullied at school over their indentity and outspokeness, the story needed to show the various experiences that transform Aimée into a fighter, and let them use what they've learned to stand up for themselves and escape Wonderland. Without this, the story's resolution felt forced.
Rabbit Chase has many intriguing ideas but for it to function as an alternate Alice retelling, the story needed more development and a tighter narrative structure to make the parallels work. If the book had been pitched to a YA audience, there might have been additional scope to explore the themes of land claims and identity more fully.
Oster's illustrations border on the playful and sinister, and Red Queen and her techno-bots are super creepy. -
Rabbit Chase by Elizabeth LaPensee, art by KC Oster, and Anishinaabemowin translations by Aarin Dokum, is a middle-grade graphic novel that puts nonbinary Anishinaabe middle-schooler Aimee into an Alice In Wonderland inspired story.
The story offers up an Alice in Wonderland story that is mixed heavily with North American Indigenous history and with Anishinaabe culture in particular. The Queen of Hearts figure is stealing the land in a similar fashion as white governments have done to Indigenous people in North America (and globally) by getting legal land rights through force and deception and manipulating Indigenous people in a court system that wasn't designed to protect them. Those who hold the land already are figures from traditional Anishinaabe stories, like the trickster rabbit who asks Aimee for help. The art style is really enjoyable and cute, and the animals depicted are drawn in a way that pulls from traditional Anishinaabe art. Aimee is a relatable protagonist who deals with school bullies, transphobia and misgendering (definite content warning for this, although it isn't exploitative and makes a fair representation of a difficult subject in my opinion), and feeling like a misfit. Seeing their emotional journey as they go through their literal journey is lovely.
I do really wish the story had been longer. Some of it just happened so fast that I felt like I might have enjoyed it more if there had been more time to explore each of the events, but I also recognise that I'm an adult reader engaging with a children's book, so I'm sure that many readers in the target age group will find the shorter length to be more appealing and enjoyable. Additionally, while there was a translation guide at the end for all of the Anishinaabemowin words used throughout, I do wish that they had put that at the beginning or placed translations of the words at the bottom of each page.
Overall, Rabbit Chase is a cute and fun story that packs a punch with serious subjects but offers them up in a way that can help introduce kids to difficult subjects. The art is just as engaging as the story being told. It also has great nonbinary and Anishinaabe representation. -
4.5. It sucks that this book has a dodgy average rating, as judging by the reviews I read a lot of this stems from white reviewers centring themselves and expecting this book to cater to them (this is regarding the Anishinaabemowin in the text, which the authors provide an easily accessible glossary for at the beginning of the book, which was still complained about), and also some adult reviewers perhaps not adjusting their expectations of a children’s graphic novel. I personally had a fantastic time with this book.
Oster’s art was wonderful. I think it was their use of thick lines that really stood out to me; I particularly liked how this was used in the articulation of the animals. The colour palette was a great choice too, comprised of muted earthy tones.
The novel worked really well as a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. My memory of that book is zany adventures strung together by the MC just trying to get home, which is exactly what this story was. LaPensée takes elements of the original, but re-contextualises them from a Native American perspective. For example, the White Rabbit here was Jiibayaabooz, one of the Trickster brothers, and the Queen of Hearts was a coloniser. The Mad Hatter, Flowers and Caterpillar all find their way in, too. This was a super effective way at approaching a retelling, as the story was still recognisable yet made fresh. The variety of whimsical situations Aimée finds themself in keeps the reader interested and entertained, yet the book never loses sight of the overall goal, which is to get Aimée home. One critique I do have of the plot is how Aimée conveniently finds themself exactly where they need to be to make an offering to paayehnsag. I also wish we had been shown how this location fit Jiibayaabooz’s description.
Aimée was a great MC. They start the book isolated and without a lot of self-love and -confidence. Throughout the story, as they are thrust into the role of hero and make new friends, this starts to change. I thought their character development was really great.
I would definitely recommend this read and hope LaPensée and Oster collaborate again! -
Thank you to Annick Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Rabbit Chase by Elizabeth Lapensée is a great middle-age graphic novel featuring a protagonist who is Native American and non-binary. The book is described as "Anishinaabe culture and storytelling meet Alice in Wonderland," and it's definitely an apt description. The story revolves around Aimée, a middle schooler who uses they/them pronouns, who unexpectedly stumbles into a Wonderland-like alternate dimension. There, they meets traditional Anishinaabe characters like Trickster, a "white" Queen, and robotic playing card guards. Will Aimée find their way home? And what will they discover about their identity along the way?
Overall, Rabbit Chase is one of the most original and innovative graphic novels I've read in a long time. First off, I love that this is an #ownvoices graphic novel by an Anishinaabe author. I am so happy to be able to support a Native American author. I think that more of these books should be published and available for children to read. I did take off 1 star, because I think the artwork was decent, but not spectacular. I think that if the artwork had been better, it would have also improved the graphic novel overall. I did enjoy reading this book though. If you're intrigued by the description, or if you're looking for a middle-grade graphic novel, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in April! -
To see more reviews check out
MI Book Reviews.
I got an ARC of this book.
As you may know, I never read book descriptions fully. That is just a thing that I don’t seem to be able to do, so some of my excitement might just be things that everyone else knew going into this book.
That being said, I loved that this was a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. I am a big fan of Alice. I have seen movies, read manga retellings, watched anime adaptions, read so many retellings it is a bit worrisome. This is by far my favorite retelling. The story did not change that dramatically, but it felt fuller of life and like there was more sense to the world that Alice had originally. While I like the nonsense of Alice, the lore and the characters of Rabbit were much more inviting to me. I loved that there were phrases that weren’t in English and they weren’t explained. You either got them from context or you checked them in the back.
My biggest complaint about the book was the non-binary plot lines. There appeared to be some that were starting, but they never went anywhere. Instead, they were just misgendering and bullying. I was a little let down. That was the whole extent of the non-binary plot. It happened for a few pages, was referenced a few times. No resolution. Just “being non-binary sucks”.
I was iffy on the art at first, but it grew on me the more characters that were introduced that weren’t human. -
I absolutely loved this and I can't wait to check this out from the library for my kids to read when it comes out.
Rabbit Chase is an Anishinaabe retelling of Alice in Wonderland. It fuses Anishinaabe culture with the familiar tale of Alice. We follow Aimée as they explore themselves and their culture while dealing with middle school bullies. Not only do they get bullied for being Indigenous but also for being nonbinary which has to be exhausting for anyone let alone a 12 year old. who is still trying to figure out the world. Aimée goes on a school trip to offer gifts to the water spirits and ends up wondering off following the white rabbit. They must help defeat the dark water sprits in order to find their way home and rejoin their class.
I am a straight white woman in my 30s the rep here is obviously not a reflection of me in anyway but that did not stop me from really enjoying this. There are Ojibwe words throughout which does not make this hard to understand and there is even a glossary in the back if you're too lazy to google. The art is really cute to top it off. I encourage you to find reviews by Indigenous and nonbinary people if you want a more in-depth look at this since it's not something I can dive into.
I received a copy through Netgalley, this did not affect my views in any way. All thoughts are my own. -
There is a lot going on here. The Alice in Wonderland retelling is a lot of fun. I loved the reinterpretation of the white rabbit as a trickster and the mad hatter as an indigenous woman (possibly disabled? Unless the cane is culturally significant?). But I still don’t understand what the Alice in Wonderland pieces had to do with anything. Is that story in public domain now? It doesn’t connect back to anything else in the story and becomes framing without any real context.
Lots of interesting pieces with all the indigenous kids, the Paayehnsag, but it never really comes together to explain why we’re seeing it all here. Glossary with the anishinabemowin words used. Which you’ll need.
Also Aimée is non-binary and struggling with that and micro-aggressions in school which we see flashbacks of but it feels more like exposition than tying to the story in a meaningful way as it's never really resolved--like the story ends with Aimée making some friends but we don't see anything about how the adventure on the trip ties back to what they'll bring back to school so to speak.
I cannot imagine how powerful this would be to see as a reader who is indigenous/enby as a mirror. I think to act as a window it needed to be a little longer and more developed. There is totally value in it being by/for/about indigenous readers but coming to it without a lot of that cultural knowledge made it feel opaque. -
Netgalley provided me a DRC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
An Indigenous Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? Yes, please!
While on a field trip and feeling isolated, Aimée finds themself following a rabbit into a magical world of Anishinaabe culture and creatures. These traditional stories and characters are beautifully woven with Alice's classic adventures. There's a tea party, too-big and too-small moments, an evil queen and her minions, talking flowers, and more.
I love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and I love reading interpretations and stories inspired by the classic. I love that this one focuses on Indigenous culture and gender identity as well as family and fitting in.
Unfortunately, there's just not ENOUGH. The story and characters feel very underdeveloped, and the cool adventures aren't enough to make up for that. I needed to to know more about Aimée OUTSIDE of the magical world in order to care about them IN it. I wanted to more about their family and culture and more about the possible friends hinted at in the story.
Some wonderful elements, but it just needed more substance. -
A reworking of "Alice in Wonderland," starring a nonbinary Anishinaabe child, Aimée. A bit of folklore is woven over the original tale, such as the two rabbits of Alice instead being two brother tricksters. The Queen of Hearts isn't after heads, but after land, and she is glad to change the rules to get what she wants. But Aimée is clever and remembers her teacher's stories, and uses them to become a bit of a trickster herself.
Before the story even begins, there's a glossary of words and phrases in Anishinaabemowin. Put a bookmark here and be prepared to flip back and forth for a good while as you read. But human minds are great at picking up language, so by the end of the book, you should recognize at LEAST "minwaa" (and/also) and miigwech (thank you).
The book revels in heavy lineart for characters, but opts for more light strokes and texture for backgrounds. The rabbit Trickster brothers are particularly charming. One is a bit more timid, the other cocky, but both are really cute...even when they're in the midst of a fight!
I'll be keeping this one in mind as a gift for the middle-graders in my family! -
I absolutely loved this graphic novel! Aimée is a non-binary middle schooler who is bullied for their gender identity. They go on a field trip with some of their indigenous classmates, but glued to their phone, they end up in a spirit world similar to Alice in Wonderland. This was just a lot of fun with great external and internal conflicts. It's creatively done and the art style is beautiful. My only complaint is that it was longer.
Also, don't listen to the white people with the one star reviews saying they "couldn't understand" the Ojibwe language sprinkled throughout. There's a glossary. And if you can't acknowledge your white privilege and handle flipping some pages, maybe just skip it altogether and go read
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality. -
A graphic novel blend of Alice in Wonderland with indigenous stories about little people and trickster rabbits. The book is bilingual with a glossary of Anishaabemowin translation.
The story also incorporates a nonbinary main character. There's not a ton of detail around their identity, but we glean it's relatively newer that they feel this way and are struggling with adults in their life who both disregard their gender pronouns and their coming of age progress.
The book is very short. I read it in about 20 minutes. I think it would appeal to kids interested in video games and creating their own games as once Aimee enters the other world, her skill as a gamer comes into play and a few scenes are depicted with game text.
Mostly what I loved what the use of indigenous language throughout the story and how the author and illustrator used a fantasy world and familiar story to recreate a real issue of land rights and displacement today. -
Rabbit Chase by Elizabeth Lapensée
Rating : 3.5 stars
I loved the theme of this graphic novel. I really enjoyed the concept of having a non-binary protagonist and a setting like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I think the author highlighted a unique perspective and introduced the Anishinaabe culture and language that as a reader. I have not encountered and I am unfamiliar with. However, the switch from English to the Anishinaabe language made it difficult to follow the storyline. The art was absolutely stunning as well. I just didn’t understand the entire storyline.
Thank you so much to the author Elizabeth Lapensée, to Annick Press Ltd, and to NetGalley for the Arc in exchange for an honest review. This review will also be posted to Goodreads. -
This was a super fast read. Like a 30 minute read. I have been waiting ages to read it, I heard such good things from so many conferences. It was on all my lists and I was finally able to buy it for my elementary library. I just feel that it was too fast. There could have been more to it, it could have gone deeper into indigenous issues, deeper into gender issues and acceptance. I love the imagery, the glossary, the vocabulary but the extraordinary potential was missed. That’s not to say that it’s not a good conversation starter, or a good companion to the curriculum or other novel studies. I will still recommend it to my elementary students, and I will still suggest it to teachers over other stories.
