Lanie is the first book about Lanie Holland. It was included with the doll when she was available; it is now available separately.
Characters
- See Also: Minor Characters in Lanie's Stories
- Lanie Holland
- Emily Holland
- Aunt Hannah
- Dakota
Chapter By Chapter Summary
Chapter One: The Bunny Experiment
It is Friday, and Lanie is running home from school so fast that her younger sister Emily cannot keep up with her. Lanie is excited to start her "best-ever" scientific experiment. Their mother looks up from her desk as they enter; before she can greet them, Emily says that Stripey--the first grade class caterpillar--munched on milkweed leaves. Lanie knows about this because she is the fourth-grade helper for the class, and brings the milkweed for the caterpillars. Mom asks Emily is she was brave enough to watch Stripey and Emily says no, but that Lanie told her about it and that he was munching something else. Lanie says it was his skin, as she does not want Emily to tell everything.
Dad looks in from the kitchen and asks if the girls are ready for their Friday snack. The two look at each other--their father has experimented in the past and while the snacks are sometimes delicious, sometimes they are not. The snack is homemade hummus on pita bread made to looks like pizza. Emily is going through a stubborn phase where she will only eat things that look like pizza, so Lanie and her father are running an experiment where they are trying to get Emily to eat other foods by making them resemble pizzas (flat, round, with "sauce" and food for "toppings") and calling them "pizzas." The only one that didn't succeed was the teriyaki chicken and rice. Emily is also entomophobic (scared of bugs) since finding a spider in the sink while brushing her teeth. Even though it's spring and the weather is becoming nice, Emily will not go out to play because of this fear. Lanie wouldn't normally care but her best friend Dakota is gone and so Emily is her only playmate. Lanie feels that she is the only person in her family with "outdoor genes" as the rest of the family does not enjoy the outdoors as much as her. She believes that there was a gene mismatch while she was "gestating" in her mother. Lanie learned about gestation while her friend Dakota's lop-eared rabbit was pregnant as the thirty-one days felt very long to her. Lanie’s pet rabbit, Lulu, was one of the babies Dakota’s lop-eared rabbit gave birth to. Lanie thinks about how she was worth the wait. Lulu is also a part of Lanie’s scientific experiment.
Lanie finishes her snack and goes upstairs and lets Lulu out of her pen and gets her walking vest. Not all rabbits like walks but Lanie had decided to conduct an experiment with Lulu. First step was to let Lulu sniff Lanie, explore, and eat food so she would be more comfortable with Lanie. The second step was once Lulu trusted her, she was to put the walking vest on her a few minutes a day, gradually increasing the time she wore it. The third step was to attach the leash and walk around her bedroom so her and Lulu could get more comfortable. The fourth step was to take Lulu outside in her vest and leash. It was Lulu’s first time outside and she was excited and jumped into the air. Lanie determined that Lulu must have outside genes like her.
Lanie buckled Lulu inter her harness and put her into the “bunny elevator”. Lanie’s mother is an architect and added several small appliances to make life in a three-story house easier. Lanie’s mother installed a dumbwaiter made of recycled plywood in the open space in the staircase. Lanie presses the button to activate the “bunny elevator” and runs downstairs to meet Lulu. Lanie picks up Lulu and they go onto the front porch. Lulu hops down the front and to the sidewalk.
Lanie explains that a rabbit won’t follow you on the walk rather you follow them. As Lanie and Lulu walked down the street several neighbors would stop to look. A nanny pushing twins pulled her stroller to the side, the children fascinated to see Lulu try to eat the greenery. Professor Kosko, one of Lanie’s neighbors, made a comment that Lulu’s vest was like Peter Rabbit’s. Lanie is disappointed Lulu can never have those adventures because there are no vegetable gardens on her street for Lulu to run around. Lanie and Lulu make it to the end of the street and turn around. Lanie is very pleased with the outcome of her experiment and starts to daydream about being an animal scientist.
Lanie notices an orange cat sitting in her neighbor’s driveway. The cat is staring and hissing at Lulu. Lulu charges the cat and Lanie drops the leash in surprise. Lanie tries to grab Lulu’s leash when the neighbor comes running out of the house yelling at Lanie to control her rabbit. Lanie picks Lulu up who is trembling and buries her head into the crook of Lanie’s arm. The neighbor introduces herself as Ms. Marshall. Lanie introduces herself. Ms. Marshall asks Lanie how often she walks her rabbit. Lanie explains that it’s the first time Lulu has been taken on a walk. Ms. Marshall suggests that she never walk Lulu again and her cat, Creaser, is traumatized enough from moving and doesn’t need to be attacked by a rodent. Lanie corrects Ms. Marshall that Lulu isn’t a rodent and a lagomorph. Ms. Marshall is unimpressed and walks back inside, her heals clicking on the driveway.