Customer Reviews

The Bunnicula Collection: Books 1-3: #1: Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery; #2: Howliday Inn; #3: The Celery Stalks at Midnight

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Okay, I'll admit it. I bought these CDs because some of my fellow Victor Garber fans were going on about them. But hey, guess what? I've really enjoyed the stories, too! James and Deborah Howe really thought things through with the first book, and I loved the wonderful silliness of 'bloodless' white vegetables in the kitchen, Bunnicula's 'cloak', 'fangs' and daytime sleepiness, Chester trying to be Van Helsing and failing in hilarious fashion. Poor Harold.... I'd be glad to feed him chocolate cupcakes and give him MTRs anytime!

James has expanded the world of Bunnicula very well in the second and third books. After vampires, what else would you expect but werewolves at Chateau Bow Wow? The fiasco at Toby and Pete's school play had me giggling like nobody's business! He knows how to let the inherent ridiculousness of the situation build up to a great comic crescendo. I promise you I will get hold of the next three books, as I can't wait to see what happens next!

Count me among the Victor Garber fans who bought this set of CDs simply to hear Alias' Spydaddy do something others said he did well. Also count me among those who thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The books themselves are well written and seem to be just fun to read. However, Mr. Garber as the narrator just brought them to life as he created a unique voice for each character. A lot of times I didn't know which made me laugh more, the voices or the story itself.

As a 29 year old single person with no kids, I have no reason to listen to these CDs other than the pure enjoyment of them, and I think I will listen to them quite often.

I somehow missed that this is just the audio for the books. There are no books included. I received a 6 CD set. What we did get is lovely, high quality story telling. I thought that there would be books to follow along with...oops.

A great story, good narration, and a different way to get your kids interested
in good stories and good literature. A healthy alternative to the passive mindlessness of
most media.

Victor Garber's narration is fantastic. My daughter already read some of the books in this series, but found the audiobook totally captivating anyway. I loved it too.

...cula.

Long before we took a stab at this series last summer, I'd heard about Bunnicula. Unfortunately, I'd foolishly discounted the books about a bunny that looked like Dracula as unappealing. Finally, desperate for in-the-car summer entertainment for elementary-school-aged bookworms, I picked up The Bunnicula Collection, a Book on CD version containing the first three titles in the series and gave them a try. They turned out to be a smashing success.

The first book, Bunnicula A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery goes something like this: Chester the cat and Howard the dog are shocked to learn what their family, the Monroes, takes home one night from the theater: a bunny that looks suspiciously like a vampire. Although the human family members quickly acclimate to the presence of the new pet, Chester and Howard, after noticing carrots, lettuce and tomatoes gone white, feel something fishy is going on and set out to solve the mystery. Howliday Inn, the second story, takes place at the kennel where the three pets are left for boarding during a family holiday. The third, The Celery Stalks at Midnight concerns strange behavior on the part of the Monroe boys and the silly antics of an additional character.

Bunnicula, recommended for age seven and up, is a humorous, captivating series about the interactions between three well-thought-out, sometimes suspicious, furry characters and their humans. At the end of the CD, author James Howe explains its origins, and gives credit his coauthor and wife, Deborah, who died before her time of cancer. The only disappointing thing about Bunnicula is the difficulty of obtaining successive books in the series read by Victor Garber, as other authors that have performed the stories aren't nearly as good. Having just finished reading The Celery Stalks at Midnight, the experience wasn't nearly as enjoyable as listening to Victor Garber's five-star reading performance. Note that two additional sets are available [...] books 4 & 5 and books 6 & 7. Only the price ($38 per set) has prevented me from picking them up. Also good: Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell and The Story of Edgar Tulane by Kate DiCamillo and, for adults, Watership Down by Richard Adams.

Like someone else posted here, I too somehow missed that this was a collection of AUDIO CDs...I thought I was ordering the hardcover book collection of the first three books that just recently came out (which I can not find on Amazon or anywhere else except in a Walden Books Store and they only had one copy which I regret not buying because it was not there the next time I went back). It is a very good AUDIO Book set of 6 CD's covering the first 3 books of the series, but I was just dissappointed that I bought the wrong item and can't find the correct one on here at all. Oh well, I enjoyed the CD's and then I gave them to my 10 year old brother who LOVES them, so it wasn't a waste by any means. I just wish I could find the book collection (the cover is exactly the same as the cover to this CD set) and says pretty much the same things on it too, except on the book it says "Three Chilling Tales" which the CD cover does not. I think why I and other people may have not seen that it was an Audio CD set instead of the book collection is because when you search for it and the Product Title on Amazon comes up it doesn't contain that information ( it just says "The Bunnicula Collection: Books 1-3: #1: Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery; #2: Howliday Inn; #3: The Celery Stalks at Midnight" until you actually open the page and look at it. What I did was I saw it said it was the collection including the first 3 books and saw the price and just hit "Add to Cart" instead of opening the page and looking at the details. Live and learn, I guess. I just didn't even think there'd be a different product than the one I was searching for.).

The unabridged CD-Rom read by Victor Garber is quite notable. The reader gives voice to all the characters. He creates a suspenseful climax through variations in his voice. The reader also attributes to the modern fantasy by reading the greatly written science fiction work with belief.

I loved this product. The stories were fun, innocent, and interesting. Victor Garber's voices were wonderful, and I love listening to him. The best was Howliday Inn, which was packed full of intrigue, fun, interesting characters, and mystery.

Highly recommended for all ages (I am an adult).

The first book grabs the reader and the sequels are great too. Here's what happens in Bunnicula: Things were never the same after that dark and stormy night when the family arrived home from the movies with a cuddly little bunny they'd found wrapped in a blanket left on a seat in the theater. Since it was a Dracula movies showing, they decided to name the bunny, Bunnicula.
It was Chester, their cat, who first noticed some very strange things about Bunnicula. For instance, the black and white markings on his back looked very much like a cloak and instead of the usual rabbit square buck teeth, he had sharp pointed fangs rather like a vampire's fangs.
Harold, the family dog, wasn't too impressed by these two oddities, but did notice that the rabbit seemed to sleep all day.
Then one morning the family discovered a white tomato and couldn't figure out what had happened to it. It seemed to be drained of its juice. Only Chester noticed the two tiny puncture marks in the tomato.
You'll love these books and their great animal characters. I'm glad the audiobook has the full stories and didn't trim them down.