This is a (maybe overly) precious story, written in a kind of poetic style, with really charming color illustrations. It's so rhymey-whimey that I think it'd work best as something an adult would read aloud to younger kids, though it's also tinged with sadness because the heroine, a messy girl in a neat town, is so lonely and longs so fiercely for a wild bunny. (Don't worry--it ends happy.) ( )

This was probably the very first chapter book I got from the library when I was maybe 6 or 7(and the second chapter book I read). I read it 2 or 3 times before it had to go back, and I remember my 6 year old self loved it! I still have such vivid memories of it! ( )

The underlying message about the need for green and wild spaces is good but the onomatopoeiac baby talk drove me up the wall. (Scoot skedaddle, hoopalala, gum chumping, scimper-scampering...) ( )

Read aloud to my 6 year old and it was a great hammock summer read. We really enjoyed the underlying message of protecting the environment for all who live in it - not just humans. Loved the whimsical illustrations - they went very well with the story. ( )

Emmaline probably suffered from my expectations of another wondrous book/heroine like Ida B, but I thought it was just OK. Emmaline lives in Neatasapin, only she is not a tidy child. She likes to run and dig in the dirt, and shout, and most of all she wants a bunny to snuggle and dig and hop & holler with. The mayor of Neatasapin is a big bully, who paves over the grass to make it neater, and has all the townspeople afraid of putting a foot out of line... all of them except Emmaline. She tries her best to fit in, but when her true spirit can't be contained, can she find a place where she truly belongs? And - if possible - where her bunny belongs as well?

I think it'd make a good read aloud, with cute dialogue that should get a laugh out of a bunch of early readers. Just the town's name will be enough for Lil Girl to think this book is a little whackadoo. Which is exactly as it should be.
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