Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe starts with an editor’s note telling how the manuscript came into the publisher’s possession. It tells the story of Family X (hereafter called “The Monroes”) and a strange rabbit who comes to live with them. The narrator, Harold is a dog, and at the time the story begins, the only other animal in the house is Chester, an intellectual cat. The Monroe family comes home from the movies with a bunny they found in the theatre.  The rabbit is in a shoebox of dirt wrapped in a blanket. The note that is attached says, in an obscure dialect of the Carpathian Mountain region, “Take good care of my baby.” Because the Monroes found him at a viewing of the movie, “Dracula”, they decided to name him “Bunnicula”. The rabbit is ensconced in a cage in the living room and the family goes to bed. The next morning Chester tells Harold about the frightening experience he had the night before. He was reading Edgar Allen Poe when the bunny began to stir. There was an eerie silence and Chester felt a chill run through him. There was the sound of distant violin music. Chester noticed that the markings on Bunnicula make him look as if he were wearing a cape and that, instead of rabbit’s buck teeth, he has fangs.

​

Nothing happens for the next few days. Harold discovers that Chester is staying up all night to keep an eye on Bunnicula. Chester is convinced the rabbit is a vampire. Then, one night, Chester falls asleep. He wakes up to see the kitchen light go off and Bunnicula come out of the kitchen. Chester doesn’t see how Bunnicula gets back into his cage. When the family comes down for breakfast, they discover a white tomato which has no juice in it.

Chester continues to insist that Bunnicula is a vampire and lays the proof in front of Harold. He sleeps all day, he gets in and out of a locked cage, he has fangs and there are suddenly white vegetables with all the juice sucked out of them in Bunnicula’s cage. Finally, the family becomes frightened because of all the white fruit that they find in their living room. Chester tries to warn the family by wrapping himself in a towel as if it were a cape and sitting up slowly like a vampire rising from his grave. When that doesn’t get the message across, he tries biting Harold on the neck. The family doesn’t take the hint, and instead begins to worry about Chester’s health. That night Harold is awakened by strange noises and a pungent odor.  Chester has strewn the living room with garlic and is wearing a garlic pendant. He tries to get Harold to wear one, too. The family comes down for breakfast and the garlic gets cleaned up. Chester points out that there were no more white vegetables, but that without the garlic, it will happen again.  That day, Chester tries to kill Bunnicula by pounding a steak into his chest, and as a last ditch effort, throws water on him because the book Chester is reading says that you can kill a vampire by immersing their body in water. The family still thinks that there is something wrong with Chester, but they don’t understand what he’s trying to tell them. Harold gets to eat the steak.

​

Things come to a head a few days later when Harold notices that Bunnicula is looking tired and listless. Chester confesses that he has been keeping the bunny from eating. Harold concocts a scheme to get Bunnicula into the salad bowl sitting in the dining room table. Chester tries to keep Bunnicula from eating but winds up on his back in the salad bowl. He is covered with dressing and gets another bath. All three animals get a trip to the vet. The book ends happily for Bunnicula, who is put on a liquid diet, and Harold, who gets out of having a shot. Chester gets referred to a psychiatrist.

​

The illustrations for Bunnicula are detailed black and white line drawings. They don’t further the story much, but the ones where Chester is trying to show the Monroes that Bunnicula is a vampire are funny enough to make them worth keeping in the book. Bunnicula is slightly scary, but won’t satisfy a child who is looking for a “scary” book. The humor in the book will keep them satisfied, though, until a scarier book comes along.