Classroom Connections: The Milkweed Meadow series by Elaine Dimopoulos

age range: 8-11
genre: animal adventure
Elaine Dimopoulos’s website

Praise for The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow:

The sparkling story is both terrifically funny and quietly contemplative, touching on heavy topics with a light hand and heaps of humor.
—Booklist, starred review

[Butternut’s] action-packed adventures with Piper underline the way that a survivalist mentality can come at the cost of a compassionate, connected, meaningful life.
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Witty, engaging, and heartfelt… Read this!
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

And for The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow:

Dimopoulos is as gifted a storyteller as her endearing hero, and she deftly folds in alliteration, theater terms, nature facts, and sparkling humor.
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

It is a joy to re-enter the rabbit warren and watch the brilliant Butternut manage insecurities and expectations while learning to listen to her intuition… A stellar sequel that expertly expands the wonderful world of Milkweed Meadow.
—Booklist

In this follow-up to The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow, a group of charismatic meadow creatures prepares to put on a show. But drama lurks around every corner, from simple disagreements to dangers like hovering hawks and worse. Filled with nature facts, this chapter book will appeal to early readers and older kids alike.
—weareteachers.com

Please tell us about your books.

There are currently two books in the Milkweed Meadow series, The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow and The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow. They are animal adventure stories for ages 8 to 11, similar in feel to Charlotte’s Web. In the first novel, set in the spring, a young rabbit named Butternut must overcome her fears and segregated thinking to perform a daring rescue, one that can be completed only if all the animals in her meadow work together. In the second novel, a troupe of turkeys engages the meadow creatures in putting on a summer theatrical performance, but their homemade stage burns down on opening night. By story’s end you learn who started the fire and why.

I am currently working on a third book in the series, set during autumn, where Butternut and her friends journey outside the meadow on a quest.

What inspired you to write this story?

Many things! I moved to a home near a meadow and wanted to turn the rabbits, robins, deer, turkeys, and coyotes in my yard into a cast of characters. I focused the first novel around the theme of community because I think we need more models of individuals finding common ground. Finally, I wanted to create a protagonist who celebrates stories and storytelling and talks about her journey to becoming the best storyteller she can be. She’s a lot like me!

Could you share with readers what you learned from your research? 

I did research on New England meadow animals so I could depict them accurately. Sometimes the research imposed limitations. I discovered that Eastern cottontail rabbits see only in shades of black, white, blue, and green; after a lot of internal debate, I chose to enable Butternut to see in a full range of colors so my readers could as well! My trickiest challenge was learning that Eastern cottontails do not live communally in burrows or warrens as I had assumed but instead scratch themselves separate sleeping nooks under bushes called “forms.” I really wanted to keep my rabbits together, so in the novel I put some effort into explaining how Grandmother Sage, the founder of the colony, saw advantages to colony living and kept everyone together in an abandoned groundhog burrow.

My most interesting discovery was learning that blue jays will nab an egg out of a robin’s nest and eat it. I didn’t believe it until I watched a video online. I was so shocked by this discovery—and thought that children would find it shocking too—that I put it in in my first chapter of The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow.

The Milkweed Meadow books feel like modern classics. Was that your intention?

Yes! I adore stories that feel timeless. Milkweed Meadow is a warm and nurturing place, but there are very real dangers, such as bullies and predators, which hopefully keep readers turning the pages. Butternut talks openly about having anxiety, which brings a modern element to a classic animal story. I also paid close attention to my words, my sentences, the rhythm of my prose. Classics are beautifully told, which is one of the reasons they endure.

What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?

The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow has been a classroom read-aloud, an all-school (grades 1–6) read, and an all-town read. I think the excitement of Butternut’s adventure, the humor, and the heartfelt connections between characters give it its appeal. Teachers also seem to like the natural setting and accurate depictions of the animals—diet, habitat, appearance, true threat of predators. It’s also a great novel for a storytelling unit, since Butternut, as she narrates, draws attention to the craft elements—conflict, tension, character development, climax, etc.—that make a story great.