The Hats of Marvello is Australian author Amanda Graham’s latest middle-grade novel about magic, the environment, friendships, secrets, and lots and lots of rabbits!
Olivia loves her life on her family’s farm in South Australia, where she lives with her mum, grandpa, and her dad (when he’s not doing a Fly In Fly Out job). She’s excited to perform in a lead role for the year 5’s upcoming play when a magical hat enters her life. When Olivia bought a green top hat at an op-shop for her costume she never guessed that it would be linked to two feuding magicians on the other side of the world and 101 rabbits who can travel between different hats.
While Olivia has always loved and longed for a rabbit of her own, it is illegal to own one in her State and she can see on a daily basis the trouble that feral rabbits are causing to her hometown and surrounding farmlands. So while Olivia tries to protect the new white hat rabbits she is also faced with the knowledge of how much damage they could do. Soon Olivia finds out that one girl, one talking black rabbit, and 100 white rabbits all trying to outsmart a mad magician and successfully perform in the school play is much harder than it appears!
Accompanied with the delightful illustrations by Lavanya Naidu, The Hats of Marvello is a very sweet, charming, and incredibly well produced novel. The book handles the delicate realities of feral rabbits in a gentle but honest way and the reader really gets drawn into Olivia’s fight to save the magical rabbits as well as the ones in her town. If you are a fan of rabbits and/or magic, then The Hats of Marvello is the perfect book for you!
