Chocolate Wishes

Magic Bunny #1

by Sue Bentley, Angela Swan (Illustrator)

Dawn is worried about moving to a new school this year, but when she meets magical bunny Arrow she realizes this year might not be so lonely after all. 

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Animals, Magic, Chapter Books, 2nd Grade

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2013

About the author

Sue was born in Northampton where she still lives. For many years she worked for Northamptonshire libraries and remains a passionate supporter of Public Libraries. Sue loves everything about books, the feel of them, their smell. the way they look. And has a habit of matching a bookmark to the cover of each book she's reading. The process of reading, the feel of the book, carrying it around in her shoulder bag, sitting in favourite cafes reading all make for a complete sensory experience.
Browsing bookshops old and new, talking all things bookish with other book lovers, spending time with other writers and meeting with fans of her own books at author events are her favourite things. That and eating good quality dark chocolate, while writing.

Reviews

[Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

SPARKLES. EVERYWHERE.

Everything in this book shimmers with rainbows and sparkle dust. No, really, such terms permeate the book's vernacular. That side of things was all lovely, and just what I needed to read (in my boredom at work *COUGH COUGH*).

Despite the sparkles, the story was largely disappointing. Bentley sets up a pseudo-imperialist magic bunny war in her Prologue, with the civilized white bunnies defending their territory from the disenfranchised "dark" bunnies. Transparent, much? I am both concerned and intrigued.

However, this is the only moment when the adorable bunny war comes into play. No rainbow-shimmer-beam battles, no bloodshed, no death lamentations/beating of bunny-breasts. Instead we have Arrow, the keeper of the keys for Moonglow Meadow, escaping the bunny war and helping a little girl named Dawn make friends at her new school.

Okay, that's sweet and all, but I was hoping for more shimmery bunny magic. I anticipate these elements surfacing in the sequels, but I don't know for certain.

Will I read the sequels? Debatable. Depends on how bored I get.

[Joy E. Rancatore · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter begged me to read this book when she finished it; and, I couldn't say no to those big, brown, excited eyes! I'm very glad I read the book. It has everything a little girl could want in a story...cute animals, magic, friendship...and wishes!

[Ira Therebel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute book with a cute cover. Can any book about bunnies not be cute? But...where are all the bunny adventures? This book is less about bunny magic and more about a girl who moved and is going to new school wanting to find friends. This story is pretty well written for a child especially one who has the experience of going to a new school and loves bunnies. Only wouldn't a kid also want to have some more bunny world and not only bunny making himself invisible from parents? Where are all the bad bunnies? The book seems better for kids younger than the girl at the book because I would think a 4 or 5 year old wouldn't notice that there is not enough bunny adventure and magic in the book, finding a talking bunny would be good enough for them.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 6 years old daughter fell in love with this book! She already loved the magic kitten books but I wasn't sure if she would like the bunnies since she thought the puppy & ponies series where just ok. She said that this is one of her new faves! She loves Arrow just as much as she loves Flame! Since Santa brought her this first bunny book she said she is going to write a letter to the easter bunny to see if he will bring her the other bunny books in this series. :)

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cora read this on her own one day when she found it "laying around the house" *wink wink* LOL She said it was "pretty good" (a high compliment in Cora-speak) and that I should read it...so I did!

I admit, it's hard to live up to the promise of that cover. It's pink. Sparkly. Rainbow-y. FURRY. My expectations might be rather high. :) That's some seriously fantastic artwork designed to lure in young girls (and their mothers...)

I found it to be exactly what Cora did..."pretty good" for a 5-7 year old girl. It was a little bit fantasy mixed with a little bit of reality, not too scary and with tons of sequels advertised at the end. (Of course!)

Not Harry Potter, but a nice change of pace the "Rainbow Fairies" :D
Maybe a 3.5....

[Heather Littman · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐️ per my 8 year old

[Natverse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dark bunnies versus white-ish bunnies? That's a little racist, no? But seriously, my real concern is that these white magic bunnies are trying to bring the dark bunnies into their warren to share the meadow but not share the power of the key. It wouldn't kill the magic key, amirite? Also, how are these dark bunnies in the same magical bunny universe and don't have their own magic key?

And where was the dark bunny war? All this promise of magical bunny warfare and all we get is a girl who makes friends and reunited with her puppy. Let's not.

I WAS PROMISED RABBIT WAR.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story opens with a prologue in which a warren of privileged white bunnies living in a magical land of glitter and rainbows needs to stop the evil dark bunnies from stealing their magic key in order to make their own homeland a better place to live. Concerned that the dark bunnies are unwilling to share the magic of the key, the white bunnies refuse to share the magic of the key. Instead, they secret the key away with a member of their tribe, who goes to the mundane human world to hide, planning to return when the whites' land needs a little sprucing up.

Anyway, then the real story begins and it's about a little white girl who makes friends with the little white bunny, and he helps her make a little white girl friend in her little white school using his glitter magic. She gets her dog back too. The dog is mostly white, but he has some brown on him, so it was pretty big of the girl to take him in in the first place.

Finally, now that the little white girl's life is perfect again, the little white bunny goes back to give some more magic to his perfect little white world. The End. The dark bunnies, meanwhile, can fuck right off and open a casino if they're having such a bad time of it.

It's... it's pretty cute, actually.

[Wendi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I take my boys to the book store about twice a month and we each pick out a couple of books. My youngest, who is a lover of all animals, saw this series and had to know the story of the rainbow bunny. Because his favorite color is green and the cover of the second book is green, he was fixated on that one. So we got the first two in the series to try for bedtime reading. I must admit I wasn't too excited for this one myself. I mean, I'll read anything they get excited to listen to, I just didn't have high hopes for my own enjoyment. I was pleasantly surprised. This is not just a cute story of a bunny and a new girl in town trying to make friends and adjust. This is also a story of family, danger, journeys, and magic. By the end of the story we were all three eager to see what happened with Dawn and Arrow. I think we will be moving on to book two very soon.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can’t believe it. Look at all those sparkles and rainbows.

I thought rabbits poop a lot but maybe magic ones don’t? It wasn’t ever explained so I’d call this book’s ending a real cliffhanger.

[Laurie B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute enough story that would likely appeal to bunny-loving kids, but I felt it was a bit too contrived, even for a children's book.

[Danielle Davis]

Read to A the summer before 2nd grade. She picked out and really enjoyed. Easy, breazy sweet book. Can’t wait for us to read more together and if this is what keeps her happy. Then I’m happy.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magic Bunny: Chocolate Wishes is a companion to the Magic Puppy, Magic Kitten, and Magic Pony books and turned out to be the third in the Magic Bunny series. Normally, I wouldn't read the third book in a series first off, but I feel confident that I was able to piece together the happenings in Moonglow Meadow from the introduction. Dark rabbits live in the uninhabitable waste next to MM, and they want to overrun MM and steal it from the white rabbits. This all sounds terribly racist, but black rabbits would be even worse. Presumably, we can't just call them evil rabbits, because, at the end of the series, all the rabbits, dark and white, will reconcile and make friends. But, for now, the dark rabbits, want to take over Moonglow Meadow by stealing the white rabbits' magic key. So, naturally, Arrow the magic rabbit with a key around his neck teleports to England where he meets a girl named Dawn who just had her first sad and lonely day at a new school. Like Binny, Dawn had a dog she loved but her parents were hit by the recession and had to move to an apartment complex that banned pets. The dog lives with her aunt now, so that's okay, but Arrow convinces Dawn to sneak him into the apartment and protect him from the dark rabbits. Because that's where a magic bunny with a magic key is safest: in an eight-year-old's bedroom. It's Easter week, and Chocolate Wishes might refer to the one time that Dawn eats a candy egg, but that's never clear. Dawn does some stupid stuff, like sneaking Arrow to her aunt's and into school. Dawn's new desk is next to a girl named Emma who loves awkward practical jokes that make people uncomfortable, and Dawn and Emma's burgeoning friendship is a thing once Emma finds out that Dawn hasn't a secret bunny. Emma has a rabbit, Blackberry, who is well cared for but lives in a shed. As a rabbit alarmist, I didn't like Dawn's keeping Arrow a secret from her parents. Kids could try that, and if the rabbit wasn't discovered immediately, which is likely, things could end extremely badly for the rabbit. Really, rabbits aren't great pets for kids and they hate being held, although reading Magic Bunny would lead you to assume the opposite. Someone in the online rabbit community was just telling the story of a kid who pulled off a rabbit's tail because the rabbit was trying to get away and the kid didn't want it to. Imagine the panic you would need to be in to run away and leave your arm behind: that's where this rabbit was. Magic Bunny does nothing for proper rabbit care, but, as a bland early chapter book it was thoroughly adequate.

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[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't exactly a 'great story', but since E is in LOVE with bunnies, we will probably end up reading the series. It was cute, dealt with a girl who was new at school and lonely, and had a happy ending...Good for 7 year old girls, I guess. I didn't really like that the little girl was sneaking around behind her parents' back, to keep the magical bunny, though. Then again, what else are you supposed to do when an adorable, talking bunny appears and you aren't allowed to have pets in the apartment?

[Imogen Fremaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked when Dawn meets Arrow and his eyes are very rainbow colored because she is very magical! I also enjoyed when Dawn took her to ballet class because you could tell Dawn really loved her. That made me feel very happy. When the dust sparkled it makes everyone feel better and its really special.

I would definitely read more books in the Magic Bunny Series!! I would tell my friends to read this too!

[Celest · Rating 4 out of 5]

I keep waiting for the day that these books would switch things up a little, but though I enjoyed the little story of a girl being cheered by a bunny, I noticed most of the problems caused lay at the little bunny's feet.

[Lia Rogers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Includes extraordinarily racist passages; Inappropriate material that I am currently trying to get removed from my local school. Stay away from all books by this author.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was tempted to recycle my previous joke on this, because I'm pretty sure I could if I tried!

Short of it is, I've now read three at-random books from the "Magic (Animal)" titles, of three different animals, and they've all had the same core story:

- Magic animal faces trouble in their world and disguises as a smaller animal of the same or similar species, then travels to another world (Earth) to hide from the trouble
- Magic animal baby meets a girl* who has a problem relating to not having a pet
- Magic animal baby helps girl with pet problem by way of following her around and occasionally casting magic and causing shenanigans
- Trouble finds/catches up to magic animal baby, who suddenly dips out almost without a goodbye, but not before fixing girl's pet problem

*The three I've read have all been about girls. No complaints, just observation based on experience.

In this case, it's Arrow the magic "Large Silver Rabbit" disguises himself as "Small White Bunny" and meets Dawn, who already HAD a pet dog, but her family moved into a new apartment complex that doesn't allow pets (Great planning, Mom and Dad!), and they had to keep their dog with Dawn's aunt. Arrow either discreetly or inadvertently causes Dawn's bully-turned-new-bestie Emma to use her personal connections to get Dawn's family an exception to allow them to keep their dog.

I do like the art (a LOT!), and the stories are at least internally consistent, even if they're cookie-cutter between themselves. This one also has a story about a bully becoming a friend, which I've only seen once or twice before and am totally pleased to see!

I don't like, specifically, that Dawn feeds Arrow CARROTS. At best, I can tolerate that she's giving him a *treat* and not carrots as a primary diet, because the latter is BAD FOR RABBITS, and I will not hesitate to reiterate this in every review as required.

Also don't like, what does chocolate have to do with this, that the book is "Chocolate Wishes"? "It's Easter!" Uh... but neither the girl nor bunny was wishing for chocolate, except maybe in passing? Eh, weak title. I think one that felt more descriptive of the actual story would fit better, like... hmm. "Doggone Troubles"? (She misses her dog!)

I don't know. I would POSSIBLY still read this series if I came across more titles, but if they're STILL the same formula, I'm not sure about how MANY more I would read.

[Jazzmyn Ferguson]

This book is about a girl who have trouble at school she has a magic bunny named wishes in the book the girl go to a show to show her raddit and the bunny get first place in the show. and the bunny has specail power for magic. Dawn Kenton is the girl named

dawn care for he bunny but she has to hide in the clost becuase the apartment she in cant have pets. and if the owner of the place find out dawn and her mom could get kick out. the bunny help Dawn find a frined because Dawn to new to the school . it a good book to read

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the cover of the book. It was beautiful. It was awesome too. I read this book with my mom. It was one of my first Chapter books we read together. My mom loved the cover too with the pretty colours and the cute bunny.

It was a cute and adorable book. I loved the part where Dawn and Arrow met and became good friends.
It gave me an idea to make friends. I love the illustrators name Angela Swan. I recommend this for other kids.(:

[Marlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter wanted to try this series because she enjoys the magic puppy books very much. This one was a lot of fun for her, with a happy ending. However, now that Dawn’s friend Emma knows about her pet bunny, how will she explain to Emma that her bunny is gone? I realize these books are probably meant for younger children than my daughter, and probably a young child wouldn’t think of such future problems as this. For a young animal lover, this is a nice story.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute and unapologetically girly. Perfect for early readers. I checked this out electronically on a whim and then waited an oddly long time for it, so the series does seem to be popular. I wish there had been more about the magical missions, but that may come later. It's a perfect fluff piece to get you out of your head for a few minutes.

[Adrienne Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 4 year old daughter absolutely loved it (bunnies are by far her favorite animal!)! She wanted to help write my review of the book and her review is: "The book is wonderful. Dawn picks up Arrow the bunny and puts it in her backpack, which is hilarious!"

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish that I had this bunny in my life. This book should be a best seller.

[Anna Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magic bunnies and environmental concerns. A cute story about real issues.

[Abby Wiseman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! The end was really sad to me at first, but it was so good.

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what the title has to do with the story. Seems a poor match. I can see how younger kids may enjoy these, but there wasn't much to it.

[Jenna🥰 · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an amazing book. It is so sad at the end tho🥺.

[Stacy Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

how do you read books on this.

[Cassie Crowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so cute and it really kept me going!🐰🐰🐇📚✏️🐣