Because of the Rabbit

“‘Every rabbit has some of Monsieur Lapin’s magic,’ he said. ‘Rabbit magic is a powerful thing.’”

Emma and Owen love the magical animal stories about Monsieur Lapin that their late grandfather told them. Emma recalls how her grandfather explained why he called every rabbit he saw “Monsieur Lapin.” This memory comes to Emma during the drive to rescue Lapi, and illustrates how deeply her grandfather’s stories affected her. It foreshadows the immense hope and significance she attaches to the rabbit, and the “magic” that the rabbit brings.

“There were lots of things I was hoping for tomorrow at school, making new friends was Number One—maybe I’d even make a best friend. I really wanted to be half of an “and,” like you see in books.”

This quote highlights Emma’s preoccupation with finding a best friend. “Calvin and Hobbes […] Charlotte and Wilbur” (14) are examples of the “and” that Emma mentions. Emma fantasizes about making a best friend on her first day at school; at this point, she is upbeat and optimistic, emotions that are squashed when her unrealistic expectations are not met the following day. This sets up Emma’s character growth: By the novel’s end, she will have different expectations of what not only a best friend looks like, but how she should behave as a friend.

“Finding him felt like a sign—Pépère sending me some rabbit magic to say everything was going to be OK tomorrow.”

Emma and Gabe have just freed the little rabbit, and Emma holds him on their way home. The rabbit snuggles into Emma and stares at her, making her think again about “rabbit magic.” Even though Emma has just met the rabbit, it already feels more significant than a routine animal rescue, and she connects the rabbit to her late grandfather’s love and care. Emma’s stress about starting school the following day likely makes her more susceptible to seeing signs and attaching significance to the animal.

“It’s a powerful thing to rescue something. It changes both of you.”

As Emma looks at the rabbit that she helped rescue, snuggled in her arms, she relays these words and feels a surge of love. The impact that Emma has on the rabbit is obvious—she helps save his life; the impact that Lapi has on Emma becomes clear as the narrative unfolds. Lapi brings Emma much needed joy, love, and companionship, and helps teach her how to be a good friend. These lines reflect an adultlike maturity and wisdom.

“Freedom can be lonely, though. It would be great to have a built-in group of kids to belong to. Maybe Owen would even feel lonesome without me for a change!”

Emma thinks about the things she will miss about being homeschooled, such as the freedom to schedule your own day. This quote highlights how confident Emma is about getting a “built-in group” of friends to “belong” to at public school, which she quickly discovers is not so easy. It also reveals her fleeting wish to show Owen how it feels not to have your constant companion around, and exposes how hurt and abandoned she feels.

“Or maybe they had been best friends when they were little, but were just regular friends now? And each open to a new best friend?”

It is the first day of school and Emma’s group in class is sharing their “truth” statements. Iris has just expressed surprise at finding out that Leah is a vegetarian, which Emma interprets— from her fixed angle of finding a best friend—as an open door to either girl becoming her best friend. These lines illustrate Emma’s naivety and her fixation on finding her idealized “best friend” in the early part of the novel.

“It was just a game, a small thing and really, what would it matter? […] I needed to get off to a good start. I didn’t want them to think I was weird or, worse, disgusting.”

Emma has yet to learn The Importance of Authenticity. She lies to her group about hatching frogs in her bathroom, claiming that it was the “lie” and that really she loves pickles. Here, Emma justifies the lie to herself, downplaying its significance. She accepts the negative attributes, “weird” and “disgusting,” that Leah and Iris attach to something she enjoys, rather than disputing them. The fact that Jack says he would keep frog eggs in his bathroom is not good enough for Emma—she has her sights set on Leah and Iris and wants to impress them.

“I was glad to have Jack beside me but also concerned. Owen had said to pick your first friends carefully, and Jack didn’t seem to have many friends, either.”

None of the girls save Emma a seat during her first school lunch, so she sits alone until Jack, and then Dustin, join her. Emma is so concerned about impressing others and being accepted into her ideal friend group that she dismisses and judges Jack. During lunch, Jack makes Emma laugh and they talk about rabbits, but Emma still wishes she was sitting with the popular girls, showing that she has a way to go on her journey of personal growth.

“I didn’t belong here. Maybe it had been a mistake to come. I’d never felt this unhappy in homeschool, even without Owen.”

These lines capture Emma’s feeling of being overwhelmed as she struggles to navigate new relationships and regulations on her first day at school. Her despair comes from a cumulation of small perceived humiliations: her dropped apple being noticed; her exclusion from the girls’ table; being on the “Leftovers table;” and finally, not knowing what to do with her lunch tray and getting rushed by the lunch lady. Emma’s feelings create tension and highlight the struggles that young people face when trying to fit in.

“In the race, both Excited and Scared had sat down on the sidelines now. Sad was the only one running.”

Lord conveys Emma’s feelings by personifying them with human qualities and having them compete in a race. The swing of Emma’s feelings is illustrated by who is ahead. Following her disappointing first day at school, Emma remembers that Lapi must be taken to the shelter; therefore Sad overtakes her other feelings, who temporarily drop out of the race. Lord personifies Emma’s feelings throughout the narrative, mostly as a race between Excited and Scared, with Sad making this one appearance. When Gabe allows Emma to keep Lapi, Emma’s joy is reflected by Excited’s reemergence: “Maybe Excited just needed a break, because suddenly she was back in the race” (85).

“And right then I realized a funny thing about surrendering. Sometimes when you finally give up trying to make your first idea work out, you think of a second one.”

At the shelter, Emma shifts from begging Gabe to let her keep Lapi to negotiating to keep him until his original owners contact the shelter. The quote applies to other incidents in the narrative where Emma shows her ingenuity by pivoting from one idea that doesn’t work to a second one, such as taking in a packed lunch on day two and creating an in-person presentation “reveal” as a way to introduce her true self.

“I never knew you could be surrounded by so many kids and still feel alone.”

Not finding a free seat at the lunch table with Leah and Iris, Emma joins the boys’ table after recognizing a boy to whom she had lent a pencil. Emma hopes to find a friend group and does not want to spend another lunch sitting with Jack and Dustin. However, even though conversation flows around her, she doesn’t feel included.

This quote captures the feeling of isolation while in a crowd, and is characteristic of the adultlike insights that Emma has throughout the novel. Emma turns down genuine connection and Jack, who she chatted and laughed with the day before, in favor of this more “acceptable” table, only to discover that she doesn’t belong.

“‘Jackrabbits are really hares.’ Jack reached out and patted Lapi again […] ‘Monsieur Lapin,’ he whispered. ‘And Jack Rabbit.’”

This quote captures both Jack’s analytical and emotional response to spending time with Lapi. When he whispers “Jack Rabbit,” the capitalization shows that Jack is referring to himself, conflating his name with Monsieur Lapin’s character—as opposed to a simple “jackrabbit,” which he mentioned previously.

“They had shot down my other ideas, but this time, I had Jack on my side.”

Emma talks about her idea to do the presentation “reveals” in-person, and she is determined not to let Iris or Leah overrule her. This quote reveals Jack’s support of Emma; it is only because of Jack’s vote that her idea is accepted. However, despite this, Emma rejects Jack at lunchtime, and rolls her eyes behind his back—actions designed to ingratiate herself into Iris and Leah’s lunch group. As a mark of her transformation by the novel’s end, she will embrace Jack’s friendship and choose him as her lunch partner.

“As Elise moved the book for me, I felt like I was floating inside.”

This quote shows Emma’s conflicting emotions. Emma feels bad about choosing the girls’ table and dismissing Jack, but the amazing feeling of being accepted into the group she has been dreaming of makes her feel like she is “floating.” Her need to be accepted and seen as acceptable is so strong that it overrides the guilt she feels at mistreating Jack—who in that moment is not as “important.”

“When they got to know me better, it’d be easier to tell them the truth. For now it seemed more important to fit in.”

Emma is sitting at the lunch table with Iris, Leah, and the other girls; one girl comments that she would “hate” being homeschooled because it must be boring. Emma, who loved being homeschooled, wants to correct her, but says nothing when she sees everyone else nodding. This quote reveals The Complexities of Making Friends and highlights Emma’s social insecurity during her first few days at school, when being accepted eclipses everything else.

“It didn’t feel good talking about Jack, even if everything they said sounded true.”

Emma is listening to the girls at the lunch table gossip about Jack. Despite Emma’s unkind treatment of Jack earlier, Emma cares about him and feels uncomfortable with the topic of conversation. This marks a turning point for Emma, who wonders how the girls will talk about her when they get to know her better and discover that she has made silly mistakes too. By the end of lunch, Emma realizes that the perfect lunch table isn’t so perfect after all.

“I felt ashamed that I had yelled at him and hurt his feelings. Jack had sat with me when I didn’t have anyone. He’d voted for my idea against Iris. I’d told him things that I hadn’t told anyone else, including one of Pépère ‘s stories.”

Emma joins Jack under the classroom table, where Jack fled after Emma unfairly snapped at him. These lines capture the moment when Emma realizes that Jack has been the friend she’s been looking for. Emma was slow to see Jack in this light because of how he is different, differences which lose their “unacceptability” as soon as Emma embraces and shares her own perceived “differences.”

“‘Emma Nuthatch,’ Jack said. I smiled the first real smile since lunch.”

Huddled under the classroom table with Jack, Emma tells him Pépère’s story about Monsieur Lapin trying to pass as a nuthatch to get some of Madam Sittelle’s food. Madam Sittelle tells Monsieur Lapin that he’s a rabbit and will never be a nuthatch, but she shares her food with him anyway because that’s what friends do. Jack understands Pépère’s story, which underscores the main theme of the novel: True friends accept and embrace each other’s differences. Jack lets Emma know he understands by calling her “Emma Nuthatch,” and the fact that she smiles her “first real smile” shows the genuine feelings she has for him.

“I’d rescued Lapi, but now I needed him to rescue me. I needed him to be there when I got home from school. I needed him to love me best. And I needed to believe that Pépère had sent him to me to bring me rabbit magic.”

Emma is feeling her lowest. Despite connecting with Jack, school is not going as planned and Iris has dropped the bombshell about the missing rabbit poster. Emma has the Abbots’ phone number but is unable to call, feeling she is about to lose Lapi too. Emma’s confidence in herself has been shaken, and now her confidence and belief in Pépère’s stories are also under threat. This quote highlights how much Emma depends on Lapi for emotional support, and illustrates the reciprocal benefits of animal rescue. Here, the prose uses repetition to emphasize Emma’s need: “I needed.”

“Owen’s words suddenly hit me hard, ‘you also have to be the friend you want to have.’”

Feeling down, Emma thinks about losing Lapi and about changing her presentation when she picks up the “Keep Going” rock from Mt. Katahdin. The rock makes Emma think of Jack, who has kept trying to be her friend. Suddenly, Owen’s words make perfect sense to Emma. With a renewed sense of purpose, Emma decides to “be the friend” she wants to have, including to Lapi, and she starts this journey by being completely open about herself during her presentation. Her peers respond by supporting her, suggesting that honesty, kindness, and authenticity are rewarded.

“Maybe it was too much to expect one person to be my “everything” best friend anyway. Maybe I already had what I needed, just spread across a bunch of people.”

This quote shows Emma’s evolving thoughts about friendship, and highlights the leap of maturity that she undergoes in the novel. Emma is beginning to realize that she expected too much from Owen—wanting him to always be there—and finally appreciates that each individual (or rabbit) in her life brings a unique quality that, together, can make up her “best friend.”

“‘My pépère used to say that all rabbits have magic. And you have Jack Rabbit magic of your own,’ I said. ‘Thanks for being my friend.’ Jack smiled, handing me one of his tickets. ‘You give up the ticket when you win.’”

Emma speaks to Jack during her part of the class presentation, after she has gifted him a rock with “Rabbit Magic” written on it. Emma is letting Jack know how special she thinks he is, and she is also publicly declaring her friendship to him in front of the whole class. Jack replies that he feels Emma’s friendship makes him a winner.