Bunnicula (98 pages, NY: Simon & Schuster) was published in 1979. Since then, several more Bunnicula books have been published, and there are over 8 million in print. My eight year old son, Max, the better one (<—– Max added that), read it, and he asked me to read it too. I did, on a flight to San Diego. I laughed so hard that the flight attendant asked me if anything was the matter. It wasn’t. I was just enjoying an incredibly funny, heartwarming, and wise children’s story. Now that we’ve both read it, I’m going to ask Max a few questions:
Jessica: Ok, what is this book about?
Max: Vampire bunnies.
Jessica: Can you say more?
Max: No.
Jessica: MAX!!
Max: What?
Jessica: You have to tell people about a book if you are going to review it.
Max: Oh.
Jessica: So, tell me more about this book. What happens? Who is in it? That kind of stuff.
Max: One question at a time.
Jessica: *sighs* Okay, then. What happens in this book?
Max: A family finds a rabbit at a movie theater. They decide to bring it home and keep it. But the pets –Harold and Chester –think it is a vampire, and they want to get rid of it. Harold is a dog and Chester is a cat.
Jessica: What could possibly make them think that a cute little bunny rabbit is in fact a vampire?
Max: Fangs, sleeping at day, waking up at night, drinking juice out of vegetables…
Jessica: Drinking juice out of vegetables?
Max: Yes. The vegetable is white with two teeth marks in it.
Jessica: Can you tell us more about the other main characters, Harold and Chester?
Max: Chester the cat is really smart. He thinks of things immediately, He doesn’t give it a few minutes. Harold the dog is not that smart, but he still is a good pet. I mean, he doesn’t even know what a parrot is.
Jessica: What was your favorite part?
Max: When they try to put a sirloin steak through Bunnicula’s heart. Because Chester is reading a book about how to kill a vampire, and he confused “steak” and “stake.”
Jessica: What is Chester worried about? I mean, it’s just vegetables.
Max: But he says “Today vegetables … tomorrow the world.” He thinks Bunnicula will eat the whole family.
Jessica: Is this a scary book?
Max: Depends. It depends on what you think about the book. Do you think it is scary? Funny? Just a regular book?
Jessica: Well, what did you think?
Max: It was a good book. Three and a half stars out of five.
Jessica: Give me an example of a five star book.
Max: The Hoboken Chicken Emergency (we’ll review this one another time).
Jessica: Who do you think will like Bunnicula?
Max: I think anybody who likes to read will like this book.
******SPOILER ALERT*******
Jessica: Is Bunnicula really a vampire, in your opinion?
Max: Yes, because he still wakes up at night, has fangs, can get out of his cage without bending anything or opening any doors, and doesn’t like garlic.
******END SPOILER*******
Jessica: Thanks Max. Was this fun?
Max: Ayuh.
EXCERPT:
The little bunny had begun to move for the first time since he had been put in his cage. He lifted his tiny nose and inhaled deeply, as if gathering sustenance from the moonlight.
“He slicked his ears back close to his body, and for the first time,” Chester said, “I noticed the peculiar marking on his forehead. What had seemed an ordinary black spot between his ears took on a strange v-shape, which connected with the big black patch that covered his back and each side of his neck. It looked as if he was wearing a coat . . . no, more like a cape than a coat.”
Through the silence had drifted the strains of a remote and exotic music.
“I could have sworn it was a gypsy violin,” Chester told me. “I thought perhaps a caravan was passing by, so I ran to the window.”
I remembered my mother telling me something about caravans when I was a puppy. But for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what.
“What’s a caravan?” I asked, feeling a little stupid.
“A caravan is a band of gypsies traveling through the forest in their wagons,” Chester answered.
“Ah, yes.” It was coming back to me now. “Station wagons?”
“No, covered wagons! The gypsies travel all through the land, setting up camps around great bonfires, doing magical tricks, and sometimes, if you cross their palms with a piece of silver, they’ll tell your fortune.”
“You mean if I gave them a fork, they’d tell my fortune?” I asked, breathlessly.
Chester looked at me with disdain. “Save your silverware,” he said, “it wasn’t a caravan after all.”
I was disappointed. “What was it?” I asked.
Chester explained that when he looked out the window, he saw Professor Mickelwhite, our next door neighbor, playing the violin in hisliving room. He listened for a few moments to the haunting melody and sighed with relief. I’ve really got to stop reading these horror stories late at night, he thought, it’s beginning to affect my mind. He yawned and turned to go back to his chair and get some sleep. As he turned, however, he was startled by what he saw.
There in the moonlight, as the music filtered through the air, sat the bunny, his eyes intense and staring, an unearthly aura about them.
“Now, this is the part you won’t believe,” Chester said to me, “but as I watched, his lips parted in a hideous smile, and where a rabbit’s buck teeth should have been, two little pointed fangs glistened.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of Chester’s story, but the way he told it, it set my hair on end.
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Bunnicula!!! We read this book in my second grade class. I adored it, but I haven’t re-read it since elementary school. In fact, I recalled nothing about it (apart from my adoration) until I read the excerpt you included in your review — at which point I was taken off guard by a sudden flood of dislike and suspicion aimed at Chester the cat, which in turn touched off a vague memory of being really conflicted and uncertain about the fact that I suspected him. LOL!
Clearly Chester made a powerful impact on me. Probably he was the first fictional protagonist I’d ever encountered that I didn’t feel able to trust. I guess that’s a major turning point in one’s adventures as a reader.
(I’m betting my discomfort with him had something to do with his condescending attitude toward Harold. I always have been a dog person…
)
My favorite part is the “stake” through the heart too! I will always credit this book for helping me remember what a homonym is.
I love this review! I think my 9 year old will love it too as he has a warped sense of humour. Unfortunately, I have to Inter-Library Loan it from another state.
It would have been a 5-star for me, stat.
SO adorable and hilarious. I read all the sequels too, back in the day, but none of them quite lived up to Bunnicula.
Bunnicula is a book I always remember fondly. I haven’t read it since I was really young so I don’t remember much more than the basic premise, Chester and Harold, and the “steak” through the heart, but I do remember I loved it. The sequels were decent, too, but they haven’t stuck with me as much as the first book.
We have this one at my house! My daughter picked it out at a used book store. I think ours is a shorter/level 1? version of the same story. I don’t recall it fondly but this is such a nice review and a cute pic. I will have to reread.
I remember Bunnicula! I loved it back in the day! But, like Meredith, I haven’t retained much beyond a sense of deeply felt nostalgia. I think it might be time for a wee reread. (Say that ten times fast.)
I never heard of this book before but now I MUST HAVE IT OR I WILL DIE. *runs to Amazon*
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Bunnicula!!!! Bunnicula rocks! he got me hooked on vampires!
Ohhhhh….I so love Bunnicula, my kids love Bunnicula….we all love Bunnicula! Too cute!
We just listened to the audio version of the first three Bunnicula books on a recent car trip. I remember loving them as a child, and I am happy to report my 7 year old loved them as well. The books are very funny (I love that they’re written from Harold’s POV).
I somehow missed this book with my daughter – I’ll have to wait for the next generation. Max has great taste in book titles. I’d like to hire him as a consultant.
I am RRR’s son and I like the post and while you are reading this post be sure to click the link to Hoboken Chicken Emergency!
I loved Bunnicula and its sequels! Because of those books I still want a cat named Chester and a yellow dog named Harold. Thanks for the reminder of how much I enjoyed them.
@Meredith Duran: Well, I think you are due for a reread. It’s really a delight.
It’s a great lesson in a way because Chester is so book smart and quick and cunning, but the real wisdom is Harold’s.
@Vi: