Tuesday 5 January 2016

The Rabbit Ate My Flipflops by Rachel Elizabeth Cole (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)


September 2015, Tangled Oak Press, 254 pages, Ebook, Review copy

Content: lots of humour 

Summary from Rachel's website
You can’t bring a rabbit camping. That’s what eleven-year-old Drew Montgomery’s grandparents say when his annoying little sister wants to bring their pet rabbit, Tiny, along on the trip. And Drew agrees. It's bad enough that he will miss the release of the coolest video game of the year while he's stuck in a cramped travel trailer for a week with his grandparents and sister. But Tiny is certain to cause trouble. Plus there are bears and eagles in the woods. And what if Tiny gets lost?

But Libby smuggles the rabbit into the trailer anyway. Now Drew’s got to keep Tiny out of trouble. And that’s not easy to do with Libby always letting him out of the cage and a pair of rabbit-hating bullies ready to let their dog chomp him if he gets too close.

Top it off with never-ending rain, bloodthirsty mosquitos, a broken toilet, stinky outhouses, angry squirrels, terrible food, and an eye-gougingly boring “schedule of activities.” Drew is about ready to take the rabbit and hitchhike home before disaster really strikes.

Nayu's thoughts
The first book was hilarious, and somehow this one is even more so! It's possibly because I knew most of the characters already, so had an instant connection with them. I felt desperately sorry for Drew because as the older brother, all the mischief that his little sister Libby causes does get linked to hime, and he tries to cover up her mistakes. You can't exactly cover up a giant bunny!

Tiny the rabbit is not tiny, and causes a lot of hassle for Drew's grandparents. The disasters were both embarrassing and hilarious, and I'm sure in a few years Drew would see the funny side. His grandparents could hardly send Tiny back so when he gets discovered he's allowed to stay, with many mishaps along the way. I loved Drew and Libby's relationship which felt like typical older brother and little sister: Drew may find her annoying but he's very protective of Libby which is sweet to read.

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