As a highly sensitive mom, I deeply appreciated The Highly Sensitive Rabbit, written by Judith Orloff and Jennifer Adams, with beautiful illustrations by Katy Tanis. Recommended for children ages 4 to 8, this thoughtful story follows Aurora, a rabbit who is an empath learning to navigate and regulate her emotions after a flash flood devastates her family home.

Aurora’s journey is both relatable and insightful, especially for children who may struggle with intense feelings and whose families might not fully understand or know how to support them. What stands out is how Aurora thoughtfully seeks guidance from her desert friends, discovering various coping techniques and ultimately finding what works best for her unique emotional needs. This approach offers a compassionate, empowering message for young readers about self-awareness and emotional resilience.

The illustrations are simply stunning. Katy Tanis’s artwork beautifully captures the warmth and vulnerability of the story, with a cover design that would catch anyone’s eye, even if the title or subject were different.

While the narrative focuses on emotional regulation, the educational material at the back of the book expands on broader topics beyond emotions and self-awareness, which I found both refreshing and valuable. This additional content provides parents and educators with useful tools and insights, enriching the book’s overall impact.

I highly recommend The Highly Sensitive Rabbit for families, educators, and anyone seeking to foster empathy and emotional intelligence in young children.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Great way to introduce these concepts to kids. Beautiful illustration. Felt a bit light on the actual story and set up
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I wish I had a book like this when I was younger! One of the authors, Judith Orloff, is a UCLA psychiatrist, so there is thoughtful representation of situations that a highly sensitive or empathic child may encounter, especially in regards to being bullied about being too sensitive. It was also wonderful that the highly sensitive rabbit found support in the community wherever she looked, which brings hope and an uplifting message into the story. One of my favorite new children’s book.

Special thanks to Sounds True Publishing and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest, independent review.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of The Highly Sensitive Rabbit by Judith Orloff; Jennifer Adams.
Pros: The storyline is emotionally relatable. The emotions of the highly sensitive rabbit coping with the chaotic overwhelming surroundings is felt throughout the story. The techniques advised by other empathetic animals are informative and therapeutically beneficial for the young minds. Also the bonus informations about the animals and plants in the Sonorsn desert was amusing. Coming to the illustrations, they were vibrant yet soothing. I just loved the illustrations.
Cons: The tiny writing is very difficult to read especially for the adults readingfor the kids. It was straining for my eyes despite wearing my glasses.

We did not like this story and couldn't finish it. The pictures were nice though. We just thought that the story was a little every where.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sounds True Publishing for providing an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

My son and I read this together and thought it was so adorable! It is a sweet book about a very sensitive bunny, Aurora, and the coping mechanisms that she learns from others - because she isn't alone in feeling this way. Such a beautiful message, I wish I had this book when I was little. And the art is lovely as well.

I'd recommend this book to any parent with little ones, and to classroom libraries.

Very easy to read and follow. The pictures depict accurately what the story tells. Aurora is a sensitive rabbit and learns how to cope with her emotions from help of some other animals. Appropriate for a child to read themselves. Makes for a good story to read to a child as well. I really like the different suggestions Aurora gets t try and help her feel better. Relatable to what we all should be doing and often forget.

The Highly Anxious Rabbit perfectly connects the wonder of Nature with the complexity of the human (or in this case, rabbit) experience. It tells the story of Aurora, a Cottontail Rabbit in the Sonoran Desert. Aurora is hyper-aware of the world around her and is unsure what to do about it. Thankfully, she meets some great teachers! This is a perfect book to explain what it means to be highly sensitive, with a healthy dose of wildlife education too. I'm definitely going to pick up a physical copy upon release!

This is a very sweet, short story. I think this would be a great read aloud book for preschool, TK, or kinder or for parents who have sensitive children to help them feel understood and present coping strategies for those difficult times of feeling overwhelmed. I think many children will be able to see themselves with the main character, and feel seen and understood.

This book is super cute and a great way to start a conversation with a kid who is a big feeler! Being from Colorado, we also loved that it was set in the desert and all the desert animals and descriptions that were included. Great art and great message.

Thank you for the eARC!

I received a copy of this eBook from netGalley for a honest review.

What a lovely story about a rabbit who is more sensitive to the world around her then her siblings. She learns ways to help regulate herself in a chaotic world.

This was a beautifully written children's book. There were some good suggestions for what to do for highly sensitive rabbits (people), and the illustrations were phenomenal! I liked the end where there were descriptions about different plants/animals living in the desert.

A beautiful rendition of the Sonoran Desert to go along with a lovely story about a rabbit who feels too much and ways to help yourself. It's a book that promotes understanding and kindness both with yourself and others filled with adorable desert fauna.

Oh👏🏼 my👏🏼 gosh👏🏼 this was so cute!! 😍

Little, sensitive Aurora was literally me. I’m not exactly going to go into how similar her feelings and ways of thinking are to mine 😅, but the lessons she learned from the other animals of the Sonoran Desert were lessons I wish I had learned as a child, who didn’t know why she was so different compared to her family. Setting boundaries, having some alone time, and talking about what you are feeling to someone you trust are some helpful lessons Aurora learned from her new companions. ❤ And the illustrations were so beautiful! Everything about this book is adorable, and I can’t wait for it to be published so I can purchase it for my nieces and nephews. 🥰

I highly recommend this book for not only the little ones in your life, but even for yourself as well. Self-care and learning how to communicate are essential in our hectic lives. ❤‍🩹

#TheHighlySensitiveRabbit #NetGalley

Thank you very much to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me the privilege of being able to share this book with my kids.

My kids really enjoyed this book, they really got the story, and they adored the pictures and the facts at the end of the book. In my opinion this book would be best geared based on the story as a grade 3 and up story at least in Canada. I loved that this was educational in so many ways. The pictures were so well detailed, and I truly loved just like my children the facts included at the back of every real-life animal we got to meet and every bit of nature as well. An animal lover is really going to adore this. Above all I loved the story. This story really highlights what it truly in ever aspect of your being how being sensitive and empathetic really feels like inside. It also does a fantastic job of showing and reminding older children how to work with and alongside their big hearts. This would be a fantastic resource book for school, and it's an even more fantastic book for every home.

Thank you very much from the bottom of heart for allowing me and my kids the ability to snuggle up and read this book together. I truly appreciate it!

Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book!! All thoughts are entirely my own.

What a sweet book that I can see being invaluable for all the hyper-sensitive young folks out there!! The art was absolutely breathtaking!! The storytelling was smooth and easy for kids to follow along with. If I have one criticism, it is that when receiving advice, Aurora is told to self-isolate if she is feeling overwhelmed. While I think it's important to self-soothe on your terms, the way it was worded may lead a hyper-sensitive child to believe it's okay to simply just disappear without telling anyone where they are going. Other than this very brief wording, the rest of the advice Aurora is given is genuinely very helpful!! Overall, a book I think you should pick up if you have any young minds you're wanting to raise to be emotionally intelligent.

This is the book I needed as a child! Actually, it was quite comforting to read now as a highly sensitive adult who still regularly gets overwhelmed and cries.

The artwork is so calming and beautiful. After the story, there's a lovely little section about the flora and fauna of the Sonoran desert. The watercolor paintings are simply magical.

I think this is a truly wonderful book to provide to all children whether they tend to be highly sensitive or not. If they are a sensitive child, it shows them gentle ways to take care of their hearts and how to exist in a world that's not always kind. If it's being read to a child who isn't the highly sensitive type, I think it would explain the personality of others who may be challenging for them to be around.

The Highly Sensitive Rabbit is a treasure of a book, I loved it! Thank you, Judith Orloff, Sounds True Publishing, and NetGalley for this ARC!

I request this as a parent to a sensitive child and we loved reading this together. Great lessons, beautiful pictures.

This book is about a little rabbit who is different than the other things - it feels things more intensely. Not just its own feelings, but also other peoples feelings like worry, devastation, agitation... After a flood the little rabbit picks up on all of this and can't help the family rebuild their home because it is so overwhelmed. Instead it ventures out to meet other desert animals to learn how to deal with those intense feelings.

I really enjoyed this book! The children who read it can (through the rabbits eyes) learn different exercises and practices that help them with their high sensitivity as well. The practices are well explained and taught through conversations.

I found this book:
* helpful
*child oriented
*full of beautiful images and drawings

If you have a child in your life that might benefit from this topic, try to get your hands on this book! In my opinion there aren't enough books that gear towards children with high sensitivity that don't victimize. So this is a great resource to have!

I will definitely include this in a planned post on my Instagram where I recommend some children's books that are coming out (or have already been released) in 2025. Will add the link to this review once it is posted

The Highly Sensitive Rabbit is about Aurora, an overwhelmed rabbit trying to figure out how to navigate big feelings and being different from her siblings. What looks to them as not caring, being too much or worrying about nothing is just how Aurora is. The book can definitely be a way to help young readers connect with some of the big feelings they may be having and use the coping mechanisms from the animals in their every day life.

It can be hard to be different whether that means being neurodivergent, empathetic or still learning to regulate emotions, so to have Aurora as a guide can be a wonderful edition to the library of a child that feels like they might be "highly sensitive" sometimes too. However, at points, it did feel like the tone was not aimed at a younger audience and so it felt slightly unclear which age range the book is for exactly.

The non-fiction facts at the end help tie the whole story together as a learning experience that bridges fiction and non-fiction (and also helps parents answer questions about these desert animals that may be strange to their children without the use of a quick google search).