Module 2: Bunnicula

Summary

Harold (a dog) lives with the Monroe family and his friend Chester the cat. One rainy evening, the Monroe family come home from seeing  a movie (Dracula, to be exact) with a bunny that they found in a box in the theater. When vegetables start to appear drained of their juices, Chester the cat, who has a penchant for scary stories and superstition, decides that the rabbit, Bunnicula, must be a vampire and attempts to get rid of him.

                 Citation

Howe, D. , & Howe, J (1989). Bunnicula, a rabbit-tale of mystery. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

                  Impression

This book is very funny, and the writing is much more sophisticated than in a lot of books for this age group--something I didn't really pick up on until I got to the glossary at the back of the book and noticed some of the vocabulary there. I thought the depictions of Harold and Chester as a dog and cat respectively were pretty spot on. I was a little bit horrified at the description of Harold eating chocolate cupcakes--he's a dog! Dogs can't eat chocolate! But other than that I didn't really have any complaints. I think the idea of a vampire bunny is just so funny that it is obvious why this book remains popular.


Review

A talking-dog's story of a vampire rabbit. Uhuh, and this is not one of those madcap affairs that has no natural bounds. Dog Harold and his buddy, cat Chester, pride themselves on being ""rather special pets""; after all, Mr. Monroe is a college English professor and Mrs. M. is a lawyer and so everybody is treated with respect for their intelligence. Which isn't, truth to say, always in evidence. Mrs. M., for instance, wants to call every new animal Fluffy--including the bunny found in a shoebox in the movie theater when the family goes to see Dracula. But, voted down, she comes up with ""Bunny-cula. Bunnicula!"" And he not only bears a note in ""an obscure dialect of the Carpathian mountain region"" (intelligible only to Harold), he turns tomatoes, lettuce, even zucchini--white!!! Well, he must be sucking their juices out, Chester decides, ergo a vampire. Chester's efforts to starve poor Bunnicula--after his other attempts to alert the Monroes fail--give these goings-on some semblance of a plot. But it's a pretty feeble bit of foolishness (except, briefly, for the zucchini bit) which winds up with Bunnicula on a liquid diet that leaves no tell-tale signs. Was he or wasn't he? Your guess is as good as ours."--Kirkus

Kirkus Reviews. [Review of the book Bunnicula, by Deborah and James Howe]. Retrieved from Bowker's books in print http://www.bowker.com.


Uses

      This book could be used to highlight animal welfare and discuss the problem of abandoned pets (and how dogs don't get chocolate! Gah!). This could be part of a week long event in conjunction with the local humane society.