Fidge is ten and a half years old and since her father’s sudden death years earlier, she is the responsible one in her family. Her younger sister, Minnie, is only four and her favourite toy is her crimson stuffed bunny – so-called Wed Wabbit because Minnie has trouble with her Rs. After something terrible happens, something Fidge feels responsible for, she is drawn into a strange, imaginary world where her companions are a stuffed elephant, a toy carrot, and her terrible cousin, Graham.
Wed Wabbit draws some obvious comparisons to books like The Chronicles of Narnia, with a child from our world pulled into another, more whimsical one. I particularly liked the parallels between Cousin Graham and Eustace Scrubb. That said, Wed Wabbit felt overall quite a bit darker. Not because Fidge is in more danger than the Pevensies ever were; maybe because Fidge’s life at home feel slightly more precarious.
I must have put Wed Wabbit on my TBR some years back after hearing someone else talk about it because I didn’t remember much when I finally requested it from the library. For example, I didn’t remember that it’s technically a book for children. A middle grade reader, it could be called. Along those lines, it’s a relatively easy read, short and following a predictable outline and character arc.
There’s something here though that makes me hesitate over the idea of reading it to my children or handing them a copy. I’m having trouble pinpointing just what that is. There’s certainly nothing blatantly on the page that is inappropriate or too scary. On thinking it over, I think it’s the fact that the world Fidge enters is based on the fantasy world of Minnie’s childhood. It’s based on her closest stuffies and her favourite book – things that Fidge, as an older child, looks down on but are wonderful and meaningful to Minnie. And while I do think it’s very creative of Evans to turn these things upside down, there’s something I don’t like about turning Wed Wabbit, the beloved stuffie, into a villain. I imagine I’d feel something similar if Rose’s favourite stuffie, Justin Beaver, was cast in that role.
I can admit I’m sensitive and others may not have this unsettled feeling in reaction to the book. I do think this element makes it better for older children. But I wouldn’t necessarily offer to a child for whom these magical worlds still feel very real. Why tarnish the gilt before its time?
Karissa Reads Books 
While I haven’t read this book I appreciate your concerns. I wouldn’t want a child to look at their favourite toy, their source of comfort, with suspicion either.
I had a very vivid imaginary world involving my stuffed toys and so do my kids now. So I can understand the premise but the villain being the favourite stuffie didn’t sit well with me. How could you ever look at it the same afterward??
My Humphrey B Bear was precious to me, too and to make him a villain would be mean (and I’m in my fifties!)
I thought it looked fairly scary just based on the cover. We see an innocent stuffed animal with a menacing, toothy shadow behind it. I can understand why you might now want to read this to your kids.
It has a sinister vibe, right? Even when I picked it up at the library I wasn’t immediately sure that it was for kids.
I can understand not wanting to read this to your kids. There’ s something so magically innocent but a child’s attachment to a stuffed animal, I would never want to tarnish that. I’ll admit I slept with a stuffed animal for most of my life, until I started sharing a bed with my husband haha
Oh gosh, I did the same! I still wouldn’t like Karen Rabbit to be seen as the villain in any story!