The Royal Rabbits Of London

By Author / Illustrator

Santa Montefiore, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Kate Hindley

Genre

Adventure

Age range(s)

Publisher

Simon & Schuster Ltd

ISBN

9781471157882

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

23-03-2017

Synopsis

'Packed with fun, fantasy and the sort of adventure guaranteed to have sticky little fingers hungrily turning the pages' The Mail on Sunday
'The Royal Rabbits is sweet, funny and beautifully illustrated' The Times

The adventure begins for brave little Shylo, and his Royal Rabbit friends in this charming series from bestselling authors Santa Montefiore and Simon Sebag Montefiore and illustrator Kate Hindley, that proves even the smallest rabbit can be the biggest hero.

Life is an adventure. Anything in the world is possible - by will and by luck, with a moist carrot, a wet noise and a slice of mad courage!

Shylo has always been the runt of the litter, the weakest and quietest of all of his family. His siblings spend their days making fun of him for not being like the rest of them. But when Shylo stumbles across a band of ratzis and overhears their evil plan to take a photo of the Queen in her nightie, it's up to this unlikely hero to travel to London and inform the Royal Rabbits of London about the diabolical plot!

The Royal Rabbits have a proud history of protecting the royal family and now the secret society need to leap into action to stop the ratzis... But can a rabbit as feeble and shy as Shylo convince them that Queen is in danger?

Reviews

This is a truly superb book with great writing and fantastic illustrations. I was drawn into the story just a few pages in and felt the years drop away as I engaged with a story that captured me just like Brian Jacques' books did years ago. I am in no way drawing a parallel between the two as Rabbits of London is suitable for a younger audience, however it does the same job of telling an emotionally engaging and compelling story using animals in place of people. Although this fits into a conventional 'coming of age' story mould, the underlying plot line is original and interesting. I liked the play on words with the 'ratzis' and the fact that the queen's corgis were a pack to be feared! There were hints of Mrs Frisby and the rats of NIMH, Ratatouille and echos of Robin Jarvis echoing in my head as I read it. The interviews with the authors at the back of the book shed light on the mix of emotional intelligence and high adventure in the book. By combining the writing styles of the husband and wife team, you get the best of both worlds: a book that takes a look at how someone written off and bullied by others can over come, and also a book with convincing peril and even a few grizzly (bad guy) deaths. It also means that the story is accessible to both boys and girls.