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Animal Ark Pets (UK Order) #3
Rabbit Race
At a school picnic, Mandy and her friend Jack must race against time to save Jack's rabbit from danger, in a new title of a series which features information about a specific animal's habits and proper care. Original.
128 pages, Paperback
First published November 4, 1996
1 person is currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Ben M. Baglio
217 books148 followersBen M. Baglio created the brief for two series of children's books - Dolphin Diaries and Animal Ark. Dolphin Diaries features a girl and her family from Florida, who travel around the world as marine biologists and study dolphins. Animal Ark features two children who work together to help animals and solve animal-related mysteries. The books were written by commissioned writers in the UK under Baglio's instruction using the pseudonym Lucy Daniels. Each ghostwriter is named with a 'Special Thanks' on the copyright page.
Using his real name he also wrote the book series The Pet Finders Club, featuring a group of three children who search for peoples lost pets.
Using his real name he also wrote the book series The Pet Finders Club, featuring a group of three children who search for peoples lost pets.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 3, 2025
“Rabbit Race” by Ben Baguio
In 1997 Scholastic published the children’s book “Rabbit Race” by Ben Baguio with illustrations by Paul Howard. The book is part of the Animal Arc Pets Little Apple Paperback book series of the 1990’s.
Second grader Mandy Hope
Mandy Hope is 7 years old. She lives in the small village in Welford, Great Britain where she attends school and has many friends. At the school’s picnic party Mandy’s schoolmate James Hunter saves a baby rabbit who was in a box on a race “go cart” constructed by Mandy’s grandfather with the help of James. They were able to rescue the rabbit from a wreck of two animal caged go-carts.
“Fluffy” and her baby rabbit “Hopper”
Laura Baker has a rabbit named “Fluffy” who is pregnant and gives birth to five baby rabbits. Grandpa Hope with James make a go-cart for the race that Mandy was planning to hold at the school picnic. The cart’s frame had carriage wheels from a baby carriage that belonged to Mandy’s parents. The go-cart they constructed had pull ropes, wooden flat boards, a steering (tiller) mechanism, and a wooden box seat for the driver. It also had a rabbit cage with a roof over the cage. The rabbit cage was painted by Grandpa Hope and James. James named the go-cart “Cheetah.” He painted the cart with stripes that made the cart look like a cheetah. Cheetahs are the fastest animals in the world. The animals can run faster than 68 miles per hour!
School Rabbit Race is a near disaster
“Hoppy” is the name James gave to his newborn rabbit gifted to him by Laura Baker who is a neighbor of Mandy and James. Laura’s rabbit “Fluffy” gave birth to five rabbits. One of the rabbits was gifted to James and he named the rabbit “Hoppy.” The school picnic day was named “Animal Antic.” The name reflects the theme for the picnic day events. The students held an animal “go cart” caged rabbit race to celebrate the school’s picnic.
The go-cart caged rabbit race had many participants. The Andrew Angstrom “Kingfisher Rabbit” go-cart flew by James Hunter’s “Cheetah” go-cart and won the race. After the race was over Jack put “Hoppy” back in the Cheetah rabbit cage; and Andrew parked his “Kingfisher” go-cart facing down a steep hill overlooking a lake. Andrew did not set the go-cart break, and his cart began moving down a very steep hill gaining speed while traveling towards the lake. James saw the “Kingfisher” go-cart moving towards the lake and drove his “Cheetah” go-cart to stop the runaway “Kingfisher” go-cart. James did not know that “Hoppy” was back in the “Cheetah” rabbit cage. James then intentionally crashed his go-cart into Andrew’s go-cart. Both go-carts landed on the bank of the lake. The “Hoppy” go-cart cage was retrieved after the crash; and the “Hopper” rabbit was not injured. Also, James and Andrew were not seriously injured from the crash. Mandy and Jack arrived at the crash site and helped the rabbit “Hopper”, James and Andrew returned to the school picnic site. The rescues were successful.
Conclusion
The “Rabbit Race” children’s book is a story of survival, mutual interpersonal commitments to save others, and courage to win the ultimate life events anchored in survival and interpersonal commitments. (P)
In 1997 Scholastic published the children’s book “Rabbit Race” by Ben Baguio with illustrations by Paul Howard. The book is part of the Animal Arc Pets Little Apple Paperback book series of the 1990’s.
Second grader Mandy Hope
Mandy Hope is 7 years old. She lives in the small village in Welford, Great Britain where she attends school and has many friends. At the school’s picnic party Mandy’s schoolmate James Hunter saves a baby rabbit who was in a box on a race “go cart” constructed by Mandy’s grandfather with the help of James. They were able to rescue the rabbit from a wreck of two animal caged go-carts.
“Fluffy” and her baby rabbit “Hopper”
Laura Baker has a rabbit named “Fluffy” who is pregnant and gives birth to five baby rabbits. Grandpa Hope with James make a go-cart for the race that Mandy was planning to hold at the school picnic. The cart’s frame had carriage wheels from a baby carriage that belonged to Mandy’s parents. The go-cart they constructed had pull ropes, wooden flat boards, a steering (tiller) mechanism, and a wooden box seat for the driver. It also had a rabbit cage with a roof over the cage. The rabbit cage was painted by Grandpa Hope and James. James named the go-cart “Cheetah.” He painted the cart with stripes that made the cart look like a cheetah. Cheetahs are the fastest animals in the world. The animals can run faster than 68 miles per hour!
School Rabbit Race is a near disaster
“Hoppy” is the name James gave to his newborn rabbit gifted to him by Laura Baker who is a neighbor of Mandy and James. Laura’s rabbit “Fluffy” gave birth to five rabbits. One of the rabbits was gifted to James and he named the rabbit “Hoppy.” The school picnic day was named “Animal Antic.” The name reflects the theme for the picnic day events. The students held an animal “go cart” caged rabbit race to celebrate the school’s picnic.
The go-cart caged rabbit race had many participants. The Andrew Angstrom “Kingfisher Rabbit” go-cart flew by James Hunter’s “Cheetah” go-cart and won the race. After the race was over Jack put “Hoppy” back in the Cheetah rabbit cage; and Andrew parked his “Kingfisher” go-cart facing down a steep hill overlooking a lake. Andrew did not set the go-cart break, and his cart began moving down a very steep hill gaining speed while traveling towards the lake. James saw the “Kingfisher” go-cart moving towards the lake and drove his “Cheetah” go-cart to stop the runaway “Kingfisher” go-cart. James did not know that “Hoppy” was back in the “Cheetah” rabbit cage. James then intentionally crashed his go-cart into Andrew’s go-cart. Both go-carts landed on the bank of the lake. The “Hoppy” go-cart cage was retrieved after the crash; and the “Hopper” rabbit was not injured. Also, James and Andrew were not seriously injured from the crash. Mandy and Jack arrived at the crash site and helped the rabbit “Hopper”, James and Andrew returned to the school picnic site. The rescues were successful.
Conclusion
The “Rabbit Race” children’s book is a story of survival, mutual interpersonal commitments to save others, and courage to win the ultimate life events anchored in survival and interpersonal commitments. (P)
September 1, 2024
This is a review of the Hodder UK edition credited to the fake author Lucy Daniels. In the United States, it would be published by Scholastic and credited to the fake author Ben Baglio. It was really written by Helen Magee, who wrote several Animal Ark books. If you ever want to know who really wrote an Animal Ark Pets book, check out the copyright page and see who gets 'special thanks.' That's your author.
No matter the publisher or author name on the cover, all of the Animal Ark Pets books were illustrated by Paul Howard. Although his black and white drawings tend to be fuzzy and cute, he has an exceptionally good guinea pig drawing in here.
Many of the characters here pop up elsewhere in the Animal Ark Universe, not just the Animal Ark Pets series. Timmy the Cairn terrier and his owner make an appearance. They were the stars of the first Little Animal Ark book and recurrent throughout that series. We also briefly see the owner of Blackie's brother. Other recurring kid characters include Pam Stanton, Laura Baker, Jill Redfern and Gary Roberts.
If you don't know anything about the Animal Ark Universe, this really isn't a good book to start. It does rely on you having to have at least read the first book in the Animal Ark Pets series, Puppy Puzzle. There was some effort to try and make the books be stand-alone reads, but brief explanations only go so far.
Like most books in the Animal Ark Pets series, this book has an A and a B plot. The A plot is trying to cheer up the new kid in town, Jack, who's dog recently died. The B plot, which winds up overwhelming the A plot, is of planning for and celebrating a fun picnic day for at least two grades at Mandy and James' school. There's quite a bit about go-kart races in here. I guess they were a brief fad in Welford, for they're not mentioned again.
At the school picnic, they have a race for rabbits, with actual rabbits. Bringing pet rabbits to a school picnic -- what could possibly go wrong?
Despite the title, there's not much about rabbits in here. In the first books of Animal Ark, Mandy had three rabbits. They mysteriously disappear part way through the series. I had hoped this book might give a backstory to Mandy's magically disappearing rabbits, but no such luck. This was first published in 1996, when it was common for rabbits in the UK to be kept outside in hutches. We know now that hutches do more harm than good. Pet rabbits are best kept indoors.
No matter the publisher or author name on the cover, all of the Animal Ark Pets books were illustrated by Paul Howard. Although his black and white drawings tend to be fuzzy and cute, he has an exceptionally good guinea pig drawing in here.
Many of the characters here pop up elsewhere in the Animal Ark Universe, not just the Animal Ark Pets series. Timmy the Cairn terrier and his owner make an appearance. They were the stars of the first Little Animal Ark book and recurrent throughout that series. We also briefly see the owner of Blackie's brother. Other recurring kid characters include Pam Stanton, Laura Baker, Jill Redfern and Gary Roberts.
If you don't know anything about the Animal Ark Universe, this really isn't a good book to start. It does rely on you having to have at least read the first book in the Animal Ark Pets series, Puppy Puzzle. There was some effort to try and make the books be stand-alone reads, but brief explanations only go so far.
Like most books in the Animal Ark Pets series, this book has an A and a B plot. The A plot is trying to cheer up the new kid in town, Jack, who's dog recently died. The B plot, which winds up overwhelming the A plot, is of planning for and celebrating a fun picnic day for at least two grades at Mandy and James' school. There's quite a bit about go-kart races in here. I guess they were a brief fad in Welford, for they're not mentioned again.
At the school picnic, they have a race for rabbits, with actual rabbits. Bringing pet rabbits to a school picnic -- what could possibly go wrong?
Despite the title, there's not much about rabbits in here. In the first books of Animal Ark, Mandy had three rabbits. They mysteriously disappear part way through the series. I had hoped this book might give a backstory to Mandy's magically disappearing rabbits, but no such luck. This was first published in 1996, when it was common for rabbits in the UK to be kept outside in hutches. We know now that hutches do more harm than good. Pet rabbits are best kept indoors.
December 12, 2020
Kinda meh.
March 11, 2013
Very cute story! Animal Ark Pets is always a great series for youngsters to delve into. Towards the last chapters of the book, this one even had me sweating about what would happen in the end. Love it!
June 26, 2011
jack has a rabbit he brought his rabbit to the class picnic then a cart with his rabbit rolled down toward the river but james caught him just in time
October 5, 2016
it was "okey".
January 9, 2013
I have 2 bunnies and there so cute one is a boy and one is a girl
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews