Because of the Rabbit

The emphasis on being one’s authentic self runs throughout the book. Emma has grown up in a nonjudgmental family who love her for who she is and who provided freedom and encouragement during her homeschooled years. Emma has a strong connection to nature; she has learned to treat everything, from frogs’ eggs to abandoned fox kits, with empathy and respect.

Before starting public school, the only difference that Emma knows will make her stand out is her red hair—“There’s no melting into any crowd” (34). She is shocked by Iris’s disgust to her statement about hatching frog’s eggs in the bathroom—a sentiment echoed by Leah. Caught by surprise, Emma pivots rather than explains the homeschool experiment, worried that “homeschooling” will also be negatively judged. Later, when Emma eventually joins the girls’ group at lunchtime, she stays quiet when Leah complains about having to visit her “boring” grandparents. Even though she wants to share about missing her beloved Pépère and Mémère, she stays silent for fear of being seen as “different.”

Emma has homeschooled friends, but she never had to navigate new relationships in a large group of peers with diverse interests and beliefs. Unsure of how to proceed, and with mounting insecurities about being misjudged, Emma hides who she really is. She notes how Jack, who is always completely true to himself, doesn’t seem to have many friends and is talked about behind his back. When Jack talks non-stop about rabbits in the library, drawing unfavorable attention to himself, Emma thinks: “Maybe Owen’s advice to ‘Be Yourself’ was really too simple. Maybe there was a point where being completely yourself stopped being a good thing and just became a lonely thing” (100). Emma questions Owen about being accepted even if doing something unusual, like displaying the old Lego ship they built together: “You aren’t afraid your friends would make fun of you if they saw it?” (159). Owen responds: “A little teasing would be OK. But a real friend would see that it mattered to me” (159). This shows that he understands that friendships are built on acceptance and empathy, not conformity.

Eventually, Emma sees that Jack is the person who has accepted her from the beginning. He is the only one of her group to notice Emma’s golden retriever shirt, which she wore specifically to start a conversation about her dogs. Jack counters Iris, saying he would keep “slimy frog eggs” in his bathroom (63), and he listens intently to Pépère’s stories without judgment. Jack likes Emma unconditionally. While Emma likes Jack and connects with him at her house, her insecurities prevent her from publicly acknowledging their friendship at school. It is not until Emma decides to be her true self that she is able to be the friend that she is looking for in others, and publicly acknowledge, with gratitude, her friendship with Jack.