-Publisher’s Weekly starred review, June 16, 2015
“Born on the Great Plains in the early 19th century, ginger-haired Jackrabbit McCabe has preternaturally long legs that make him a natural-born runner and a hometown hero…Rozier makes a strikingly accomplished debut; her appropriately brisk prose has the perfect blend of folksy lilt and knowing wink. Espinosa…is just as successful: his crisply angular drawings, comic expressiveness, and cinematic framings bring to mind Chuck Jones’s classic “Dover Boys” cartoon. It’s a terrific tall tale about the costs and opportunities of technology…”
-Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2015
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“This original tall tale is literally up to speed. Jackrabbit McCabe is the fastest man in Windy Flats, a mid-19th-century town…Jackrabbit races everything, human, animal, and mechanical—and wins every time…Everyone in Windy Flats scoffs at the idea that "any newfangled contraption" is faster than their man, and he eagerly takes up the challenge to "race" against it…Readers will find that the story, written in folksy terms and rhythms, clips along at a fast pace, too, and the fittingly retro illustrations are filled with action, energy, and good humor…Good, quick-moving fun. Kids may marvel that communication existed before the telephone and Internet. (Picture book. 4-7)”
-Booklist, August 1, 2015
"Jackrabbit McCabe earns his name by outrunning anyone and anything in his Great Plains town of Windy Flats. In the tall-tale tradition of John Henry, McCabe engages in a man-versus-machine competition by trying to deliver a message more quickly than it can be sent by telegraph…Espinosa creates colorful, dynamic images that burst from the page..."
-Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December 15, 2015
"There’s a touch of the Provensens’ retro style in Espinosa’s fresh and colorful pencil and digital illustrations, which match the sense of promise and progress inherent to such a story. The folksy prose, winking allusions, and movement of the tale make this a solid readaloud choice..."
Art this page: Copyright Leo Espinosa, 2015