I had no idea what to expect from the cover of this book but I definitely was not expecting this story at all. This book made me laugh out loud and I’m going to recommend it to everyone. We all have at least a vague idea of who Napoleon was and of his accomplishments and failures but the story of Napoleon being defeated by hundreds to, by some estimates (I read more about the story because I was so delighted), thousands of adorable rabbits was a new one for me. The story goes: Napoleon wanted to have a celebratory rabbit hunt after he signed his 1807 treaty with Russia. Tasked with finding the rabbits, his Chief of Staff just bought them all from local farmers. They were so used to humans and domesticated they just ran right toward Napoleon because they assumed he had food for them. He panicked and ran and the rest is human/rabbit history. Really funny story, cute illustrations, and the bonus of a few French vocabulary words, this is a great read aloud picture book for just about anyone.

Reviewed by Sarah Maciejewski. Patten Free Library, Bath