Rabbit girl

Author: Mary Arrigan

Pages: 224

Age group: 10+

Genre: war, realistic, animals, history, friendship

When Mallie buys a drawing of a girl with a rabbit, she finds a mystery within the old picture that connects her to two evacuees from the London Blitz.

 My review

Rabbit Girl tells two stories, parallel to each other in alternating chapters. The two main characters are Tony and Mallie. 

 First I'll tell you about Tony as he was born earlier than Mallie.

 Tony

Tonys story was set in the Second World War.He's story begins first in Ireland, then London and then later in the Lake District. 

When young Tony travels to England to be with his father who has found work in London. Tony is at first utterly disappointed as all he wanted was a garden with a hutch and some white rabbits in it.But they are living in a smelly house(room) with no garden. Slowly he adapts to his new life in the city, before having to adapt all over again when the War begins.

 Mallie

Mallie story was set in the present day, and tells of a teenage girl called Mallie Kelly, who lives alone with her mother Sarah. Mallie worries for her mother, who always seems to be losing jobs and her love for her talent, which is drawing and art. Mallie secretly takes a job working at the local pet shop, against her mother's wishes, to get some money and buy her mother a special birthday gift.

This gift turns out to be very special indeed, alongside the romantic matchmaking attempts by Mallie for her mother, ultimately draws together the two strands of the story together.
There is a secret which you may guess at during the story, which is revealed at the end of the story. 

Although Mallie lives in the present day a world so different  from Tony's somehow in the end both worlds are brought together.

An absolutely marvelous book! I loved the comparison between Tony and Mallie's lives.

I recommend this book to everyone.

Enjoy,

Courtney