Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow

OBOB 2025 Grades 3-5, Ages 8-11. 192 pages

Elaine Dimopoulos, Doug Salati (Illustrated by)

This timeless middle-grade adventure about friendship and community will charm animal-loving fans of The Tale of Despereaux. Illustrated by Caldecott winner Doug Salati, and now in paperback!

Butternut lives in the burrows of Milkweed Meadow with her nine rabbit brothers and sisters. Together they practice strategies for survival and tell stories. With disastrous scenarios blooming in her mind, Butternut embraces the lesson of her families’ stories: stick to your own rabbit-kind. But after befriending an incorrigible robin and a wounded deer, Butternut begins to question what she has been taught. 

When the three friends discover other animals in crisis, Butternut must decide whether she can help, rally her friends and family, and be as brave as the heroes in the stories she tells.

Beautiful and arresting black-and-white illustrations bring the animals to life in this heartwarming story about friendship, community, and doing what is right.