The Magic Rabbit

by Annette LeBlanc Cate

A brilliant new talent has a few wonderful tricks up her sleeve in this touching illustrated tale of a little lost bunny and a magical friendship.

Ray the magician and his bunny assistant are best friends. They work together all day, performing their act in front of admiring crowds and return each night to the tiny apartment they share. But then comes the day downtown when the friends become separated, and suddenly Bunny is lost and alone. How will he ever find Ray in the hustle and bustle of the city? With its wonderfully detailed black-and-white illustrations strategically sprinkled with yellow (look carefully!), this tender story from a talented new author-illustrator will have you believing in the magic of friendship.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Magic, Friendship, Rabbits, Fiction, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 2007

About the author

Annette LeBlanc Cate is the author-illustrator of The Magic Rabbit. She’s been watching and drawing birds for many years, and she loves pointing out funny stuff about them. She was the art director for the hit animated show Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The drab color palette is an unusual choice for a children's book, but it works wonderfully with this tale of a magician and his lost bunny.

The illustrations are just terrific. I was so caught up in admiring all the little details that I had to remind myself to read the story before turning the page.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magician and his rabbit are not only professional partners but best friends. They perform in parks in New York City. An accident causes the rabbit to become lost and he goes on a journey to find his magician friend. A nice tour through a big city and a warm message about the preciousness of friendship.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the cover of this children's book and that is why I picked it up. The story is about Ray and Bunny, Ray was a magician and Bunny was his assistant. They did everything together and were best friends. On Saturdays, the worked outside doing their show. On Saturday, it was really crowded as they worked beside a juggler and his dog. As Ray and Bunny did their act, the juggler lost his balance and bumped into Ray. Bunny fell out of the hat amongst the golden stars that were falling out of Ray's magic wand. The juggler's dog saw Bunny and Bunny ran. They ran and ran until Bunny was by himself all alone, and lost. Bunny had no idea where he was and he missed Ray. Bunny looks and looks for Ray and for something familiar so he can go home but he can't find nothing until...

It's a cute story about friendship. How Bunny gets home is magical and I had to go back and look at the pages to see Bunny journey a few times. I really enjoyed the black-and-white illustrations in this picture book. I think after reading this book with the words a few times, a child would be able to read this book on their own just by looking at the pictures as they are detailed enough and there enough of them to give a complete story. It's a great storybook.

[Mistiemae1 Downs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a terribly original or captivating story, but the illustrations were adorable.

[Joanne Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much story, but I absolutely adored the hide and seek appeal of this book. The words and illustrations were perfectly balanced. The art was fun to explore. The characters were cute. The theme of friendship was heart-warming. A lovely little picture book kids will want to return to over and over.

[Lilyvandersteen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated, with the drawings providing enough clues to make this story an excellent challenge for first readers. My children loved taking turns reading the sentences and figuring out what was happening, and cheered at the happy ending :-) Lovely!

[Kate Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Ray and his magic bunny work together to perform magic shows. On this day, it was especially crowded and Ray and his bunny got separated. Bunny spent the day trying to find his way back to Ray, and at the end he followed a trail of shining stars back to the magic hat, which belonged to Ray. They were reunited at last.

Response: This was a good book, but not one of my favorites. I liked the storyline but didn't love the illustrations. Younger kids might not be super interested since it's in black and white, but overall the story is good.

Ideas: I could use this book with older children in speech therapy, since it is not super colorful and is a bit longer for a children's book. We could talk about what bunny and Ray must've felt when they were separated to work on emotional intelligence and perspective taking.

[Darinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A street magician is separated from his bunny assistant. Bunny is lost without the magician, and missing his best friend.

A lovely, sweet story of friendship. Fantastic black and white artwork with pops of yellow.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A park magician loses his best friend, his rabbit, during a crash with a fellow performer. The rabbit is alone in the city until she picks up her friend's trail and they find each other at last. Black and white illustrations are punctuated by pops of magic yellow stars.

[Abigail Feldt · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first picture in the book is a little overwhelming. Most things are in black and white and our protagonist lives in a cluttered apartment. The bunny is chased away from his friend/owner Ray. It's a bit more stressful than I usually prefer for a children's book.

[Vita Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and funny story with a satisfying ending.

[trijnewijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je hoeft niet de beste goochelaar ter wereld te zijn om succes te hebben. Echte vriendschap maakt het leven magisch.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sure we were about to have another "The Flat Rabbit" situation here, but it worked out all right.

[Jennifer Kendall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story about friendship. I'd pair this book with Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems- similar in illustrations and storyline.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid story of friendship between Ray and his magic bunny, told in panel form more like a graphic novel, this would be hard to use in story time, but makes a nice one-on-one read.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful little book about a magician named Ray and his best friend Bunny. One day while doing their Magic act, Ray gets tripped and Bunny gets lost. This is a terrible thing to have happen to the best friends as they try to find each other.

[Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Magic Rabbit is a heartwarming tale about a street performing magician and his rabbit companion. The magician and the rabbit are the best of friends, and everything is going great until one day the rabbit becomes lost in the big city. The story, which follows the adventures of the rabbit through the city, is fantastic at creating a mood of being lost and looking for a friend. In this respect, the book can be rather sad as it invokes feelings of loneliness and loss that many children have felt when getting lost themselves.

The illustrations in the book are wonderfully hand drawn in black and white. The choice to only use black and white (with an occasional yellow for effect) really reflects the slightly dark tone of the book. The rabbit, as the main character, is drawn with many telling facial expressions that really convey the feelings of the lost rabbit to the reader. The expressiveness of the magician's face is fantastic as well, as a certain page near the end of the book has no text, but solely tells the story through four panels of illustration.

My only issue with the book was that it dragged on slightly in the middle. The book could have been shortened by a couple of pages and flowed better, but it was in no way bad. I would highly recommend reading this book to new readers because of its good story and phenomenal illustrations.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books that use black and white illustrations with just one colour featured throughout. This black and white and yellow (duh! Magic is yellow!) book is a light-hearted tale of best friends. The illustrations remind me of the Quentin Blake illustrations I grew up with reading Roald Dahl. She used so much detail in her pen and ink illustrations it does not miss the colour. The little bits of yellow make the magical elements more magical and would help a child play along with the book: "can you see the magic? Help bunny find his friend!" And who doesn't like a man in striped pants with a cape whose bff is a white rabbit!? Not necessarily a great story time book because of the highly detailed illustrations-- they might get lost if being told from a distance.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annette LeBlanc Cate studied at the Art Institute of Boston and was the art director for the animated television series DR. KATZ, PROFESSIONAL THERAPIST. She lives in Pepperell, Massachusetts. This was her first picture book. As of this writing it is in a second edition (2013).

The test was hand-lettered by Ms Cate. The illustrations were done in pen and ink and watercolor.
The story of Ray, a street magician, and Bunny, his loyal assistant.

Age Range: 4 - 8 years
Grade Level: Preschool - 3
Lexile Measure: 570L

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book that centers around friendship as Ray and his bunny were best friends that did everything together. The bunny was Ray's assistant when he performed as a magician and gets lost during a magic trick gone wrong. Throught the story, they were reunited as bunny overcame being alone in the big city. I loved the illustrations as they were in simple black and white, with just a hint of color. This is a very popular read in my classroom and the illustrations cover most of the page which include only a line or two of text. I find my reluctant readers picking up this book.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

There isn't much story here -- a gangly, scraggly-haired street magician loses his trusty assistant, Bunny. Bunny finds his way back home by following stars that glitter up from the sidewalk, leading him back into the magician's hat. The end.

The illustrations are the strong suit in this book -- charming black-and-white street scenes of what could only be Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the magical yellow stars standing out as the only color.

[Elisha Condie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books has wonderful illustrations. And they are all in black, white and yellow. A magician loses his best friend bunny one day during a catastrophe in the magic act. And the book follows the lost bunny around the city - there are so many details to look at and little things to find - until he finds his friend again. It's a very sweet book.

Ok, I'm done for tonight writing childrens recommendations. Honestly- I could happily just keep typing...I love kids books. It's a problem.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A magician's rabbit accidentally gets lost but finds his way home again. Visual clues, such as yellow stars for magic, will give younger readers plenty of hints about what will happen next.

I loved the black and white illustrations, with just a big of yellow magic, in this story. As I was reading, I wondered if this would work just as well as a wordless book.

Recommended for kindergarten through second grade.

[Msjennifers Corner · Rating 4 out of 5]

While looking for a book about magicians or a magic show I stumbled across this one. I used it for the story before teaching kids simple magic tricks. It was very cute and the children enjoyed it very much.

A magician and his faithful friend and assistant, his bunny are performing on the street when a collision with a juggler separates them. These two find their way back to each other in a very interesting way but not before they miss each other terribly.

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cute story of a magician and his rabbit finding each other is really cute. The black and white illustrations are beautiful, and it's fun for children finding the rabbit in the midst of the Boston chaos and the yellow stars he has to follow back to his owner. This is a great tale of friendship, and I would read this to kids of all ages.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a difficult time seeing where I would use this book, but I feel the best place would be with a guided reading group. I feel that the group would be those that aren't beginning readers but aren't chapter book readers neither. It is a cute book!

[Friend of Pixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet story of a tall young magician and his faithful rabbit. They do everything together, but one day, the rabbit gets scared off by a juggler's dog and gets lost. Gentle, rather than scary, drawings of each of them missing and trying to find one another. Joyful reunion. We read it several times.

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it! The art, the characters and the meaning behind the story. A very heart-warming and sweet story! I like the fact that the art consist of black and white colours (and grey) with the exception of the stars. Makes the book even better.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story about a magician trying to find his lost rabbit. The pen and ink drawings are partly full page and partly in panels. Most of the drawings are black/white/sepia, with a little yellow watercolor here and there.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very charming! Loved the black and white illustrations with the glowing stars.