The Metamorphosis of Bunny Baxter
Candlewick Press · Hardcover · July 22, 2025
Bunny Baxter thinks nothing could be worse than starting seventh grade at a school where she knows no one.
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- Who it’s for
- A funny, tender take on seventh-grade misfires and learning to make room for yourself.
- Themes
- Social anxiety, Belonging at a new school, Growing into yourself
- Genres
- Growing Up, Rabbit Stories, School Stories
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Bunny Baxter thinks nothing could be worse than starting seventh grade at a school where she knows no one. But after her first day, she realizes things can actually get much worse. If Bunny Baxter were an insect, she’d have so many ways to slip through seventh grade unnoticed. But she’s tall instead of tiny, has flaming red Medusa hair instead of camouflage, and she suffers from social anxiety, which makes it hard to be part of a swarm.
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Worst of all, she’s been redistricted to a new middle school away from her best friend who she could always hide behind when her anxiety got the best of her. The first day at E.D. Britt Middle School does not go well. Bunny trips on the steps, falls into the cutest boy in the school, and causes a kid domino pile-up. At lunch, she unintentionally causes an uproar in the cafeteria, which lands her and another girl in the principal’s office. Bunny decides there is only one option: to get expelled so she can transfer to the school her best friend attends. She soon discovers that it isn’t that hard to get in trouble—don’t turn in your homework, walk around the track instead of run in P.E., pretend you deliberately hit someone with a badminton birdie. What isn’t so easy for Bunny is realizing she now has a reputation as a troublemaker. And even more confusing, when it looks like her plan to get expelled might work, she’s no longer sure what to do. The Metamorphosis of Bunny Baxter is a heartfelt coming of age story about an insect-loving girl who is learning to grow into herself—quirks and all. A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Awkward, Then What
A funny, tender take on seventh-grade misfires and learning to make room for yourself.
Come here for
- School-day mishaps with a very particular comic edge
- A friendship-and-belonging story shaped by social anxiety
Expect
- An awkward start that complicates Bunny’s plans
- A coming-of-age arc about growing into your quirks
Where it sits
| Growing Up | 68% |
|---|---|
| School Stories | 41% |
| Rabbit Stories | 30% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Adoption Stories
- School Stories
- Growing Up
- Authors
- Barbara Carroll Roberts
- Publisher
- Candlewick Press
- Published
- July 22, 2025
- Format
- Hardcover
- Theme
- Social anxiety · Belonging at a new school · Growing into yourself
- Reading lane
- Adoption Stories