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55 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bunniculee, Bunnicula, Bunniculee, Bunicula-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!, November 27, 2005
Children's librarians have to prepare for certain kinds of questions. When a child walks up to your Reference Desk, you need to be ready to get them the exact book they're looking for at the exact moment that they want it. I get a lot of young kids, mostly girls, who want a good vampire book of their very own. Aside from the usual "Vampire State Building" and "Dracula Is a Pain In the Neck", both by Elizabeth Levy, there's really not a lot out there to recommend wholeheartedly. In fact, nine times out of ten, I find myself suggesting that most accessible of vampirism books, "Bunnicula". It doesn't star a human vampire, but you can hardly blame me. Now just this past week I found myself in the unenviable position of needing to find lots and lots and lots of copies of a single book for the upcoming meeting of my homeschooler bookgroup. And what delightful chapter book did I have enough copies in my library branch to satisfy screaming hoards of homeschooled kiddies? Again, it's "Bunnicula" to the rescue. It may not seem at first glance to have earned itself the moniker of "classic children's book", but I can attest right here and right now that when it comes to lifesaving go-to titles, I'll take "Bunnicula" over "Bridge To Terebithia" or "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret", any day.
Some dogs have an inherent dignity about them that sees them through even the most ridiculous of situations with their heads held high. Harold is such a dog. Harold lives, with his close companion Chester the cat, with the Monroe family. Life with the Monroes has never been what you would call "exciting". That is, until the family comes back one day from a "Dracula" film with a tiny shivering rabbit found in the theater. They promptly name him Bunnicula in honor of the film but the bunny is not much of a companion. He sleeps all day and never seems to touch his food. When Chester becomes convinced that the rabbit is actually a vampire he takes it upon himself (with a reluctant Harold in tow) to defeat this new nemesis to the Monroe home.
Bunnies are the quintessential unexpected villains of books and films. When you've already been pegged as the world's most harmless mammal, it's amazing how threatening you become out of context. Movies like "Donnie Darko", "Sexy Beast", "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", and television shows like "The Maxx" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" have all played on evil-rabbit (or rabbit fearing) situations. It makes perfect sense that a children's book would do the same. In this book, husband/wife team of Deborah and James Howe strike just the right balance between creepy-crawly threat and completely ludicrous situation. For this reason, Harold is the perfect narrator. He may not be as clever and well-read as Chester, but he has a kind of down-to-earth common sense that keeps him clear of Chester's fads and frenzies. Though the book was written originally in 1978, the part of the book where the cat becomes enamored of self-help and self-esteem books (such as "Finding Yourself By Screaming A Lot") rings as true, if not truer, today.
It's the humor that buoys up the book. The Howes aren't afraid to plug in little jokes that kids may not get here and there. For example, when Chester and Harold are discussing what vampires actually do, Chester says that they bite people on the next. Harold responds (with some alarm) that Mrs. Monroe has bitten Mr. Monroe on the neck and does that make her a vampire? Chester scoffs at this. "Boy, are you dumb. She's not a vampire. She's a lawyer". Cue the adults reading this book aloud to their kids thinking to themselves that the difference may not be so great after all. The pacing of "Bunnicula" commands some appreciation as well. Though a slim 98 pages, the Howes have found a way to keep the action tight and the plot convincing. I would venture to say that there are few books out there more difficult to write than early chapter books with lots of pictures that are less than 100 pages and still wholly original. Finally, illustrator Alan Daniel gives us some great pictures in this book. I was more than a little pleased to find that he's gone on to illustrate the "Cat Pack" books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Couldn't have happened to a better guy.
Kids who are beginning to get comfortable with chapter books but who haven't completely put down their "Captain Underpants" novels will find much to enjoy in this book. Animal lovers and fans of the supernatural alike will appreciate what the Howes were able to accomplish here. A great book and a wonderfully remembered one as well.
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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the most entertaining stories I've read!, November 22, 1999
The first time I was introduced to this book was as a child in elementary school. My teacher read us a little bit of this book everyday right before lunch. I got my own copy a couple years later and have reread it a couple time every year - quite a few times as I'm now 26! I love the opening page where Harold is sitting in front of the nice, warm radiator. It always made me feel like curling up under a blanket in the middle of winter with this book. My favorite character is Chester (the cat) because he's so zany. He provides non-stop entertainment in his quest to get rid of the vampire bunny. To this day, I still laugh when I get to the part where he has to pound a stake into the vampire's heart! I would recommend this book to kids of all ages (even the over 20 group)!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
bunnicula, December 12, 2001
A Kid's Review
I read the book Bunnicula. It's about a dog named Harold and a cat named Chester. And of course a rabbit named Bunnicula.(not your ordinary cuddley rabbit.) It all started when harold and chester's owners came home from a dracula movie.And the owners didn't come home by themselves. They came with a box with a rabbit in it.They put the rabbit in a cage. They had some trouble nameing the rabbit. But they finally found the name of bunnicula. Probably because of the fact that they found bunnicula at a dracula movie. And they sure picked the right name for him. Chester began to notice that the black spot on Bunnicula looked like a cape. Chester stayed awake to see what bunnicula did at night.(I would of though a rabbit would sleep at night.) Chester noticed that the sly rabbit wasn't in his cage. He heard a noise in the kitchen. The door of the kitchen opened. And guess who was hopping happily out of the kitchen.(That was a sentance from the book.) The next morning all of the veggitables were white. On the third time Bunnicula went out for his midnight snack Chester was prepared. He was trying to starve Bunnicula. Harold yelled at Chester. Bunnicula looked sick.A few days later Harold took Bunnicula out of his cage and lead him to the kitchen. I can't tell the ending because this is an online review. I recommend this book if you like bunny vampires.
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