Pun Salad

I have an embarrassing number of bought-but-never-read books on my shelves. This is yet another of those, purchased sometime in the 1970s. In case you haven't heard: it's about rabbits in England. In the book's universe, they can talk to each other, with occasional specialized vocabulary. (Fortunately, there's a "Lapine Glossary" in the back of the book for unfamiliar rabbit words.) The rabbits can also converse in a limited way with other species, but not people.

In the peaceful (but somewhat regimented) rabbit warren in Sandleford, there is trouble a'brewing. A small rabbit named Fiver, with soothsaying abilities, knows there's bad danger afoot. (And we readers know it too, as there's a sign announcing the imminent construction of "high class modern residences".) And that construction will involve the destruction of the rabbit habitat.

Fiver is convincing enough to get a small group of rabbits to abandon Sandleford and start looking for a new home. (Just in time, as it turns out.) Their travels are danger-filled. And there's another issue: they have no lady rabbits in their group, which (even rabbits know) doesn't auger well for their community's long-term survival. Their efforts to gain some females cause them to run afoul of an extremely militaristic warren. Our bunnies are no match for them in brawn; can they out-think them?

Spoiler: yes. But it's a close-run thing. If you're thinking about reading this to the kids: there's a lot of (rabbit) violence and even some PG elements of rabbit sex.