Alice's Farm - by Maryrose Wood (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In Maryrose Wood's stunning middle-grade novel, Alice's Farm, a brave young rabbit must work with her natural predators to save her farmland home and secretly help the farm's earnest but incompetent new owners.

When a new family moves into Prune Street Farm, Alice and the other cottontails are cautious. The new owners are from the city; the family and their dog are not at all what the rabbits expect, and soon Alice is making new friends and doing things no rabbit has done before. When she overhears a plan by a developer to run the family off and bulldoze the farm, Alice comes up with a plan, helped by the farmer's son, and other animals, including a majestic bald eagle.

Here is a stunning celebration of life, the bitter and the sweet. Alice is some rabbit--a character readers will love for generations to come.

Review Quotes

A 2021 National Council of Teachers of English Charlotte Huck Recommended Book

"Venturing, as the author readily acknowledges in her afterword, into Charlotte's Web territory, Wood crafts a tale of interspecies cooperation in a rural setting that is lit up with exhibitions of uncommon courage, loyalty, humor, and tolerance--not to mention extreme cuteness. ... Worthy values aplenty." --Booklist, starred review

"Alice's Farm is a restorative read, tender and wonderful. It's a fantasy, it's real, it's just a joy. And absolutely a book for our times." --Rebecca Stead, Newbery Medalist

"Captivating... A resonant cross-species saga of perseverance, loyalty, and magnanimous friendship." --Publisher's Weekly

"Quirky characters, whimsical adventures...a good read-aloud candidate for fans of Charlotte's Web." -- School Library Journal

"Like the denizens of E.B. White's Charlotte's Web, these characters--animal and human, predator and prey--are lovingly observed. They are a deeply engaging, mostly endearing bunch whose natures may put them at odds but who share a world. . . Stoutly non-speciesist, this is an effervescent delight." --Kirkus Reviews

"Fans of Cynthia Voigt's Young Fredle will feel right at home, and readers of Charlotte's Web will delight in several sly echoes. An excellent choice for a family or classroom read-aloud." --The Horn Book Magazine

"A perfect family read-aloud. Maryrose Wood has done it again. Families will find much to love in this delightful tale about what it means to be a good neighbor, and what might happen if we looked at life from the other side of the clover patch. Highly recommended!" --Sarah Mackenzie, author of The Read-Aloud Family, founder and host of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast

About the Author