45 pages • 1 hour read
Cynthia LordBecause of the Rabbit
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Rabbits are crepuscular, most active at dawn and dusk”
Emma and her family are eating supper the evening before Emma’s first day of fifth grade. Emma’s father, Gabe, who works as a Maine Game Warden, gets a call about a wild rabbit stuck in a fence. Emma wants to help her father rescue the rabbit; since Gabe thinks it will be quick, Emma’s mother agrees.
Emma needs to get an early night because she is starting a new school, Lakeview Elementary School, the following day. Emma and her brother Owen were homeschooled together until the previous year when Owen decided he wanted to try public high school. Even though Emma loves the freedom of homeschooling—it allows her, for instance, to read in kayaks on the lake or help Gabe with animal rescues—it hasn’t been the same since Owen started public school. Owen asks Emma how she is feeling, and who is winning the race between “Excited or Scared.” This is a game they used to play while trying new things: “Excited is way ahead, but Scared is coming on strong” (2), Emma replies.
On the way to rescue the rabbit, Emma thinks about all the animals she has helped her father save and remembers her grandfather’s stories about tricky “Monsieur Lapin, Mr. Rabbit” (7), who always escaped and had near misses because he was “[l]ittle, smart, fast as the wind on the mountaintop, and full of surprises” (8).
Chapter 2 Summary: “A frightened rabbit can truly be scared to death”
When Emma and Owen were younger, they spent every summer with their grandparents “Pépère and Mémère” on their farm in Canada (9). Emma remembers how much they loved working on the farm, harvesting berries, and baking. Most of all, Emma remembers the stories her grandfather told about the wild animals and birds living around the farm, giving the characters French names. For example, there was: “Monsieur Castor the beaver, Madam Tortue the turtle, […] Madam Sittelle the nuthatch” (11). Emma’s favorite was Monsieur Lapin.
On the way to rescue the rabbit, Emma makes up a “Monsieur Lapin” story, entertaining her father as they drive the rural Maine roads. Emma also thinks about her hopes for school. Most of all she wants to make friends, especially a best friend. She has a list of what she wants in a best friend, which includes someone who is always there for her, the way Owen used to be.
Her thoughts are interrupted when they arrive at the house with the rabbit who needs rescuing and meet the frustrated homeowner. The rabbit stuck in the fence is not wild, but a small, honey-gold colored pet. As Gabe tries to free the rabbit, he tells the homeowner that he only deals with wildlife, not pets, but she ignores him and drives away, leaving Emma holding the terrified rabbit. Since the animal shelters are already closed, Gabe agrees to let Emma keep the rabbit overnight. Emma holds the rabbit close, feeling overwhelming love for him. As Emma makes up another Monsieur Lapin story on the way home, she thinks that this could be a sign from Pépère, sending her “rabbit magic” for school tomorrow.
Chapter 3 Summary: “If a rabbit refuses food, it can quickly become an emergency”
Emma’s family helps her set up a cage for the rabbit in the living room. They give the rabbit carrots and parsley, but he refuses to eat. Worried, Gabe tells Emma that if the rabbit refuses to eat he will have to take him to the shelter in the morning, before Emma gets home from school. Emma wants to keep the rabbit in her room, but her parents refuse, and, to her annoyance, Owen sides with them, something he never used to do.
In her room, Emma goes through the new school supplies in her backpack and sets out her outfit for the following day. Seeing the new supplies and remembering the fun of “back-to-school shopping” (26), Emma’s mood lifts, but as soon as she turns off the lights, worries about school and the rabbit creep back in. Unable to sleep, Emma checks on the rabbit. He still hasn’t eaten, so—going against her parents’ order—Emma quietly takes him and his food to her bedroom. She puts him down as she prepares a laundry basket for him, but he doesn’t wait and hops around her room. Eventually, Emma settles the rabbit under the upside-down basket, and before she goes to sleep hears him loudly crunching on carrots. “Good night, Monsieur Lapin” (32) she whispers.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Most rabbits are happiest in bonded pairs or groups”
Emma’s alarm wakes her up and she leaps out of bed, eager to get ready for her first day at school. She practices her smile and wonders whether her red hair will make her stand out as she cleans up after the rabbit, who is hopping around her room. Emma’s mom calls her downstairs to breakfast. Emma grabs one of her inspirational stones, picks up the rabbit, and hurries downstairs.
Emma explains to Owen and her parents that the rabbit was happier in her room and ate all his food. She shares that she has named him Monsieur Lapin, “Lapi for short” (37). When her father tells her not to get attached, she knows she already has. Gabe agrees to wait until after school to take Lapi to the shelter so Emma can join him. Over breakfast Owen gives Emma some last-minute school advice and asks who is ahead in the Scared/Excited race: Excited is still ahead. Before Emma gets on the bus Owen hands her an inspirational rock, telling her not to read it right away.
The school bus follows familiar country roads, passing Appalachian Trail hikers and going through the center of town on the way to school. The familiar feels different to Emma today; she gathers courage by thinking about her grandfather and his stories before stepping off the bus into the crowd of kids. Emma looks at the rock Owen gave her. On one side Owen has written “Be” and on the other, “Yourself.”
Chapters 1-4 Analysis
The narrative is told from Emma’s perspective. The novel shows the deep connection that Emma has with her family throughout. In the first chapter, Emma introduces each family member, including her family’s two golden retrievers, with loving details: Emma’s mother makes her favorite dishes for supper; her father wants her help on an animal rescue; Owen understands her concerns about starting a new school. Memories of her beloved Pépère and his stories complete the picture of a happy, closeknit family.
However, hints of Emma’s discontent appear when she expresses jealousy of Owen’s afterschool activities: “Soccer? When did he decide that?” (5). The deep bond that Emma has with her brother, nurtured by years of being homeschooled and spending idyllic summers at their grandparents’ together, makes it hard for Emma to accept that Owen is moving on. She is jealous of his new friends and afterschool activities, feeling left behind. She ruminates: “What he subtracted was me” (3).
This feeling of loss incites the novel’s action, fueling her decision to try public school. She is determined to find a perfect “best friend” to fill the hole left by Owen. Emma also sees how happy Owen is. This simultaneously makes her feel sad that being homeschooled with her was not enough, and curious about public school: “I couldn’t help wondering if I were missing out on something big” (15). The novel shows that Emma’s feelings about Owen are valid, but that Owen has not abandoned her; he is simply growing up. Owen is portrayed as a kind, good brother; he tries to relieve her nervousness, but Emma can only focus on the negative. When Owen agrees with their mom that Emma needs her sleep, her feelings get hurt: “Owen never used to take Mom and Dad’s side over mine” (25).
Emma has high expectations for school, but her excitement is tempered with nervousness. Remembering Pépère’s magical animal stories brings her comfort. The stories have a defined beginning and happy end, with Monsieur Lapin always finding a way out of a tricky situation, much like the one Emma finds herself in with starting school. Emma must be like Monsieur Lapin, where “[a]nything is possible” (8).
Emma clings onto the idea that finding the lost pet rabbit is a sign, “rabbit magic” sent by her grandfather to bring her luck at school. Magic or not, the rabbit provides a good distraction from pre-school worries and allows Emma to focus on something other than Owen’s absence. Attaching meaning to the rabbit makes Emma emotionally invested: “I’d heard of “love at first sight” […] that’s how it felt—I loved him already” (22). Emma’s fear of abandonment by Owen is mirrored in her concern that the rabbit will feel abandoned when they leave him in a cage. Determined not to leave the rabbit “alone and afraid” (28), Emma disobeys her parents and takes the rabbit to her room. She cannot fix feelings of loneliness in herself yet, but she can help the rabbit.
Throughout the narrative, Lord personifies Emma’s feelings with human qualities, weighing her different emotions against each other in the setting of a game. As Emma says: “When we were little, whenever we had mixed feelings about something, Owen and I’d pretend those feelings were running in a race” (2). For example, Emma pits excitement and fear against one another, and updates Owen on the Scared/Excited race: “Excited has been training all summer for this day […] Scared forgot to eat breakfast” (38). When “Scared” starts to kick in, Emma thinks of Pépère’s stories and her inspirational rocks for comfort—the stories give her hope and the rocks provide inspiration that she can physically hold. The rocks remind her of places she has visited and challenges she has met with Owen, her true “rock.” Her biggest boost comes from Owen’s words of advice, written on the rock he gave her: “Be Yourself.” This underscores a key theme of the book, The Importance of Authenticity, and reassures Emma that Owen believes she is ready and loves her for who she is.
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By Cynthia Lord
