“The Vampire Bunny” - The Enchanting Story of A Modern Day Vampire Rabbit
Written: Aug 09 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Adorable story, great for proficient readers, a nice pick for Halloween reading.
Cons: You never find out who owned Bunnicula before the Monroe family.
The Bottom Line: Can a bunny be to blame for the mysterious white vegetables? Read “The Vampire Bunny” to find out!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Heather Henson - The Vampire Bunny |
I’d been hearing about this mysterious Bunnicula story for a while now, my friends mentioned it in emails and phone conversations and were floored when I said I’d never heard of it. Less than a week later the postman tossed a padded mailer in my doorway making a point of doing it as loudly as possible [he doesn’t like me all that much]. These little mystery packages arrive from time to time and usually contain some kind of weird book that someone came across. Most of the time I have to pay attention to the postmark because they rarely put a return address on things. Inside was a neatly wrapped copy of “The Vampire Bunny” I was a little thrown by the title. I assumed that this was the Bunnicula book that my friends were talking about so I expected that to be the title. As it turns out this is part of the Ready-To-Read series of books targeted at level three readers. This is the last level in the series, after that kids move up to the Read-For-Chapters books which offer more information, a wider range of topics and less illustrations.
Bunnicula And Friends: The Vampire Bunny
Originally written by Heather Henson based on her book “Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery”, this version is adapted by James Howe and illustrated by Jeff Mack. When I did the ISBN search for this book this is the listing that came up however Epinions has it listed that Heather is the author. More than likely this was an oversight went it was uploaded from another site, in any event, everything else matches up so on to the review! The story is told from Harold’s point of view. Harold is a dog, a very cute fluffy dog but he doesn’t live alone. He has a pet companion named Chester. Chester is a cat and as much as I hate cats, this one is pretty cool. They share their home with The Monroe family; mom, dad, Toby and Pete. On a dark and stormy night the Monroe family arrive home after seeing a movie; with them is a new addition to the group. Unbeknownst to Chester and Harold, a new pet has joined them. Harold has probably never seen a rabbit in person judging by his reaction to seeing the black and white furball in the box.
The note around the little guys neck simply read, “Take good care of my baby”. Then the debate over the name ensues. You can’t very well name a bunny after Dracula [after the movie that they were watching when they found him] so they decided to combine ‘bunny’ with ‘Dracula’ and came up with Bunnicula! It was a good thing, he almost ended up with the name Fluffy, one of Mrs. Monroe’s favorite pet names. One of the cutest illustrations in the book is the bunny looking out over the side of the box, eyes glowing red, ears perks all the way up - something that really scared Harold and Chester. Even so, things seemed to be going well and Bunnicula looked like he was adjusting to things. That is until they found [insert scream here] “the white tomato”! Before the family discovered this mysterious pale veggie Chester was already having his doubts about Bunnicula. He even went so far as to spy on the bunny at night.
The next morning they discover the white tomato, it looked like any other tomato you would see except it was lacking color and if you inspected it closely you might just see two very tiny bite marks on the side of it. Another odd thing, all the juice inside it was gone! Chester and Harold glance over at the cage and see the little rabbit sleeping ... but with a huge smile on his face. The next morning things aren’t much better; every vegetable in the kitchen was white, drained of juice and just as white as the tomato they found the previous morning. Chester was the first to say it, Bunnicula was a vampire. As preposterous as it sounded, everything fit - the strange markings on the rabbit, the fangs, him sleeping all day. It took some convincing but eventually Harold came around and believed Chester. When the cat started breaking out the garlic Harold thought it was a little overboard - especially when Bunnicula started to look sick and wasn’t his usual self when the sun went down.
It turns out that Chester was blocking the door to the kitchen so Bunnicula couldn’t get in and feed on the vegetables [see, cats are evil!]. Harold knew that he had to help the rabbit, after all it was just vegetables, not humans or cats or [gasp] dogs he was after. Harold saw his opportunity - Mrs. Monroe had a huge salad, the perfect feast for the rabbit. Opening the cage and carrying him to the salad he thought he was going to get away with it, that is until the cat woke up and thwarted his plan. The result - a flying rabbit, a cat that was into the garlic once again and everyone making their way to the veterinarians office for a visit. It turns out Bunnicula was ‘suffering from hunger’ so he was put on a juice diet. That ended the mystery of the white vegetables and everyone lived happily ever after ... even Chester!
My Take
To me this is an adorable story and the drawings and illustrations really enhance things incredibly. The idea of a vegetable juice sucking vampire bunny is something that I would have never thought of but I am glad that I received this as a gift. No doubt, when Halloween rolls around this year I am sure that this one is going to see a lot of use. It reminds me a lot of the Minnie & Moo books the way it is formatted, the way the text flows and how there aren’t many obscure or hard words. There are more books in the series from Howe - some of the more interesting ones include, “Bunnicula Strikes Again!”, “The Celery Stalks At Midnight” and “It Came From Under The Bed!”.
The Bottom Line
This is a great book to read at any time of the year but I am sure that if a parent or teacher gathered up a small group of kids a few days before Halloween and had them read this, they’d look twice at their pet bunny rabbit when they take those long naps in the afternoon. It is a cute story and is suitable for kids who have some reading experience under their belt but even younger kids who are just starting out can benefit from this. If the other books in the series are this charming there’s no doubt I will get them all. Since my friends are always sending me Halloween themed books I have the feeling that once they read this review they’ll be on the look out for the others like. If you’ve never read this story it is something that you should definately check out - especially if you have a soft spot for bunny rabbits!
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
Other awesome Halloween books for kids ...
• Halloween Night on Shivermore Street • The Hallo-Wiener • Minnie And Moo Meet Frankenswine • Spooky America • Days of The Dead • The Halloween Book • Crafts For Halloween • Aunt Eaters Mystery Halloween • The Halloween House • Let’s Celebrate Halloween • Fluffy’s Happy Halloween • The Pumpkin Fair • In The Haunted House • Poultrygeist • Big Pumpkin • The Thirteen Days of Halloween • My First Halloween Board Book • My Very Own Halloween • One Witch • The Best Halloween Hunt Ever •
Recommended:
Yes
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