Rabbit Chase

Rabbit Chase
Date2022
Page count120 pages
PublisherAnnick Press
Creative team
CreatorElizabeth LaPensée and KC Oster
ISBN978-1-77321-620-1

Rabbit Chase is a graphic novel written for children aged 8–12 by Elizabeth LaPensée (Anishinaabe, Métis, and Irish) with art by KC Oster (Ojibwe-Anishinaabe) with translations by Aarin Migiziins Dokum (Odaawaa).

Summary

The protagonist of the story is Aimée, a non-binary Indigenous Anishinabek schoolgirl who experiences racist bullying, variously for their Indigenous ethnicity and for adopting singular they pronouns.

Aimée and her fellow Indigenous Students Association members go on a field trip to visit Indigenous petroglyphs and make offerings to paayehnsag (water-spirits). Distracted by a game on her phone, in which she seeks solace from social isolation, Aimée drifts from the group into the woods and encounters the mythological rabbit-spirit Jiibayaabooz. Jiibayaabooz challenges Aimée to win the help of the paayehnsag in overcoming some evil waterspirits.

Aimée comes upon a tea party at which they meet the traditional hero (and rabbit) Nanaboozhoo, sharing blueberries, maple syrup, and coffee with them and their friends. They tell Aimée of a queen who, along with her robot army, has been colonising their land, marking her conquests by planting flowers. Aimée goes on to defeat the Queen at laser tag and has to flee to avoid being beheaded. Finally, she reaches the Paayehnsag, wins their trust, and the waterspirits are defeated.

Their quest complete, Aimée finds herself back at the time and place where they were separated from the class, as if nothing had happened. Yet Aimée now finds that they are able to start making friends in the real world.[1][2][3]

The book contains a glossary of Anishinaabemowin words used in the text.[4]

Reception

Writing in Anishinabek News, Karl Hele praised the book's "not-so-subtle references to the Crown, colonization, and environmental destruction", pointing out that the Queen and her conquests are "a lovely reference to the various treaties signed with the Crown and the introduction of invasive or non-native plants that often marked the extent of European expansion" in North America. He concluded that "I heartily recommend this graphic novel for pre-teens. It will appeal to their sense of humour, present the familiar, while teaching culture, language, and the importance of self. It deals with racism and self-doubt, and demonstrates how these can be overcome, or at least mitigated, through pride in culture, language, friends, and self-awareness. Overall, it is an excellent graphic novel and thoroughly enjoyable".[1]

In the assessment of Kate Quealey-Gainer, "this graphic novel reinterprets Alice in Wonderland through Anishinaabe culture [...] LaPensée recasts it with indigenous elements and relies on context rather than exposition to clue in non-indigenous readers, making a unique creative product that provides just enough footing for curious readers to explore further on their own".[2] Likewise, Allison Mills concluded that "Rabbit Chase relies somewhat on its audience’s familiarity with Alice in Wonderland, which may discourage some readers. That said, LaPensée’s story is so rooted in an Anishinaabe worldview and in Aimée’s personal growth that it is able to stand on its own".[4] Mills also found that the "inclusion of Anishinaabemowin alongside the cultural touchstones found throughout the narrative is one of the book’s great strengths".[4] Contemplating the book's achievement, Quealey-Gainer found that "the palette plays a significant role here, with the brown and sepia tones of the real world replaced with dreamy jewel and inky hues, and silhouettes are used particularly effectively, creating an otherworldliness that walks the line between whimsy and menace".[2]

LaPensée said that they would donate their royalties "to the protection and recognition of the Sanilac petroglyphs".[1]

Further reading

References

  1. ^ a b c Karl Hele. "Book review: Rabbit Chase – Anishinabek News". Retrieved 2026-06-01.
  2. ^ a b c Quealy-Gainer, Kate (March 2022). "LaPensée, Elizabeth Rabbit Chase; tr. from the Anishinaabemowin by Aarin Dokum; illus. by KC Oster. Annick, 2022 [ 120p]". Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 75 (7): 220–21.
  3. ^ Karp, Jesse. "Rabbit Chase." Booklist, vol. 118, no. 14, 15 Mar. 2022, p. 58.
  4. ^ a b c "Rabbit Chase - Quill and Quire". Quill and Quire - Canada's magazine of book news and reviews. 2022-05-16. Retrieved 2026-06-01.

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