The Bravest Thing

by Donna Jo Napoli

Ten-year-old Laurel loves pets more than almost anything, so she's thrilled when her rabbit gives birth. But taking care of the bunnies isn't quite as easy as Laurel thought it would be. When Bun Bun refuses to feed her babies, Laurel has a crisis on her hands- and suddenly it's up to her to save the newborns' lives.

Genres: Animals, Realistic Fiction, Childrens

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Donna Jo Napoli is both a linguist and a writer of children's and YA fiction. She loves to garden and bake bread, and even dreams of moving to the woods and becoming a naturalist.

At various times her house and yard have been filled with dogs, cats, birds, and rabbits. For thirteen years she had a cat named Taxi, and liked to go outside and call, "Taxi!" to make the neighbors wonder. But dear dear Taxi died in 2009.

She has five children, seven grandchildren, and currently lives outside Philadelphia. She received her BA in mathematics in 1970 and her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures in 1973, both from Harvard University, then did a postdoctoral year in Linguistics at MIT. She has since taught linguistics at Smith College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Georgetown University, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and Swarthmore College. It was at UM that she earned tenure (in 1981) and became a full professor (in 1984). She has held visiting positions at the University of Queensland (Australia), the University of Geneva (Switzerland), Capital Normal University of Beijing (China), the University of Newcastle (UK), the University of Venice at Ca' Foscari (Italy), and the Siena School for the Liberal Arts (Italy) as well as lectured at the University of Sydney (Australia), Macquarie University (Australia), the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), and the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and held a fellowship at Trinity College Dublin. In the area of linguistics she has authored, coauthored, edited, or coedited 17 books, ranging from theoretical linguistics to practical matters in language structure and use, including matters of interest to d/Deaf people. She has held grants and fellowships from numerous sources, including the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, the Sloan Foundation.

Reviews

[Someone · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was ok, nothing fancy and an ok read for children. The main character was very hard to like though, with her stuck up attitude. She got annoyed at the simplest things like other peoples pet names and argued with others a lot like the pet shop lady or her friend. It's good to be knowledgeble, but it doesn't mean you have to infuse your views on others. I did like how she was brave when she found out she had scoliosis but that was no excuse for the title. I've read novels with braver characters, fighting cancer, disability, racism, sexism. Whilst all Laurel did was to feed the babies which most people would do to keep a life alive.
It's good that the book openly talks about sex and it seems like a good way to introduce children to the topic, but it somehow didn't really feel right because she was making her rabbit have sex just to breed. I mean, it's a pet so you can't really ask if it wants to have intercourse and have babies, but still it felt like another one of those when Laurel infuses her ways on others.
I thought it was a pity how the author didn't write about anything on Laurel calling or writing a letter to her sick aunty. Worrying is one thing, but she seemed to be too preoccupied with the bunny when her aunty is on the verge of death with cancer.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten year old animal lover Laurel, has met with an issue of life, death, and survival when her pet rabbit Bun Bun refuses to acknowledge her litter of bunnies. Laurel takes steps to help the bunnies survive, and during the process learns some eye opening truths about life in general.

[Jenny Dunn]

My daughter says 5 ⭐. It'd be a 3 for me. She loves all things bunny. Spoiler alert:
There was a lot of animal death so be careful if your child is sensitive to that. Also there was a more detailed description of rabbit mating than I expected.

[Bethany]

I loved this book as a kid (drama! bunnies!), but as an adult what really stands out is the irresponsible pet ownership. You shouldn't breed animals just because you think it would be interesting, especially if you have no plans for what to do with the babies.

[Heidi]

I couldn't finish this but I wanted to post a trigger warning. She has so many animals die, sometimes by what seems like negligence. I couldn't continue.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

My 9 year old daughter and I read this together. Some parts were weird and cringeworthy. There were a lot of dead pets. In the end we were interested in knowing how it turned out. Overall, ok.

[Audrey ~ EXO-L · Rating 2 out of 5]

Laurel was brave and superior when she had scoliosis and had to take care of her bunny's babies, but this didn't have much of a plot. The chapters were not filled with descriptive words or have much dialouge. Just a first person. She describes her story as a shopping list. Not exactly the best story.

[Ashleigh Cutler · Rating 2 out of 5]

The biggest thing I remember about this book is the name "Spanish Moss" for a rabbit. Still the book was a good read of my childhood and deserves it's place on this list. I don't remember when I first read it just that I did and parts have stayed with me even today.

[Katherine Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite books when I was little.