Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery
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Authors: James Howe,Deborah Howe
Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery
25th Anniversary Edition
by Deborah and James Howe
2004
Table of Contents
Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery
Chapter 2 - Music in the Night
Chapter 3 - Some Unusual Goings-On
Chapter 5 - Chester Goes into His Act
Chapter 7 - A (New) Friend in Need
Chapter 8 - Disaster in the Dining Room
Chapter 9 - All’s Well that Ends Well … Almost
Jacket Text
Front Flap
IN 1979 ATHENEUM FIRST PUBLISHED
Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery
to great acclaim. A beloved story that has become a modem classic with millions of copies in print worldwide,
Bunnicula
has made countless children laugh and carrots quake with terror. With an eyecatching new jacket by C. F. Payne and a new preface from James Howe, this is the perfect opportunity to introduce a brand-new generation of readers to the crazy antics of Bunnicula, Chester, and Harold.
It all begins when the Monroes go to see the movie
Dracula
. At the theater, Toby finds something on his seat—a baby rabbit, which the family takes home and names Bunnicula. It proves to be an apt name, at least as far as Chester the cat is concerned. Well-read and observant, Chester soon decides that there is something odd about the newcomer. For one thing, he seems to have fangs. And the odd markings on his back look a bit like a cape. Furthermore, Bunnicula sleeps from sunup to sundown and is only awake at night. And then there are the vegetables … the
white
vegetables.
Is Bunnicula really a vampire? Only Bunnicula knows for sure. But the story of Chester’s suspicions and their consequences—as told by his canine pal, Harold—makes uproarious reading.
Rear Flap
James How wrote the award-winning best-seller
Bunnicula
with his late wife, Deborah Howe, in 1977. The couple went on to write one other children’s book,
Teddy Bear’s Scrapbook
, before Deborah’s untimely death from cancer in 1978.
After
Bunnicula
’s publication in 1979, James Howe quit his job as a literary agent to pursue writing full-time. His many other popular books for children include the five sequels to
Bunnicula
; The Tales from the House of Bunnicula series; the Bunnicula and Friends Ready-to-Read series; the Sebastian Barth mysteries; the Pinky and Rex series;
A Night Without Stars
;
Morgan’s Zoo
; and the picture books
Horace and Morris But Mostly Dolores
,
Horace and Morris join the Chorus (but what about Dolores?)
, and
Kaddish for Grandpa in Jesus’ Name Amen
. He is also the author of several acclaimed novels for older readers, such as
The Misfits
and
The Watcher
, and is the editor of the anthologies
The Color of Absence: 12 Stories About Loss and Hope
and
13: Thirteen Stories That Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of Being Thirteen
. James Howe lives in New York State.
JACKET ILLUSTRATIONS COPYRIGHT © 2004 BY C. F. PAYNE
JACKET DESIGN BY RUSSELL GORDON
Visit us on the World Wide Web
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ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
Simon & Schuster
New York
Rear Cover
“Luckily
Bunnicula
is the kind of story that does not age, and in all probability, will never die. Or stay dead, anyway …”
—Neil Gaiman
“Bunnicula was one funny, scary, must-read vampire bunny when he first showed up. Now it’s twenty-five years later, and he hasn’t changed a bit. Very scary. Very funny.”
—Jon Scieszka
“As a kid, I saw the classic movie
Dracula
and became instantly afraid of vampires. Many years later, I read the classic children’s book
Bunnicula
. Now—in addition to vampires—I am also afraid of bunnies. I hope you’re happy, Jim.”
—Barbara Park
“James Howe is the king! Bunnicula rules!!!” —Dav Pilkey
Books by James Howe
Bunnicula Books
Bunnicula
(with Deborah Howe)
Howliday Inn
The Celery Stalks at Midnight
Nighty-Nightmare
Return to Howliday Inn
Bunnicula Strikes Again!
Bunnicula and Friends
The Vampire Bunny
Hot Fudge
Picture Books
There’s a Monster Under My Bed
There’s a Dragon in My Sleeping Bag
Teddy Bear’s Scrapbook
(with Deborah Howe)
Horace and Morris but Mostly Dolores
Horace and Morris Join the Chorus (but what about Dolores?)
Kaddish for Grandpa in Jesus’ name amen
Tales from the House of Bunnicula
It Came from Beneath the Bed!
Invasion of the Mind Swappers from Asteroid 6!
Howie Monroe and the Doghouse of Doom
Screaming Mummies of the Pharaoh’s Tomb II
Bud Barkin, Private Eye
The
Amazing
Odorous Adventures of Stinky Dog
Sebastian Barth Mysteries
What Eric Knew
Stage Fright
Eat Your Poison, Dear
Dew Drop Dead
Pinky and Rex Series
Pinky and Rex
Pinky and Rex Get Married
Pinky and Rex and the Mean Old Witch
Pinky and Rex and the Spelling Bee
Pinky and Rex Go to Camp
Pinky and Rex and the New Baby
Pinky and Rex and the Double-Dad Weekend
Pinky and Rex and the Bully
Pinky and Rex and the New Neighbors
Pinky and Rex and the Perfect Pumpkin
Pinky and Rex and the School Play
Pinky and Rex and the Just-Right Pet
Novels
A Night Without Stars
Morgan’s Zoo
The Watcher
The Misfits
Edited by James Howe
The Color of Absence: Twelve Stories about Loss and Hope
13: Thirteen Stories That Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of Being Thirteen
TO
MILDRED AND LESTER SMITH—
WITH LOVE
A Few Words About Bunnicula’s 25th Anniversary
Twenty-five years?
Impossible.
Harold hasn’t grown any older. How is it that I have?
Oh, that’s right, I’m not a fictional character. Just my luck. Sometimes I feel as if I
were
inside a story, though—one I could never have imagined, a story with thousands of characters, unexpected plot twists, and no end in sight. That’s the best part: It’s a story that’s still being written.
It started with only a handful of characters. Two, to be exact. One night in 1977, two underemployed actors, a husband and wife who didn’t know the first thing about writing a children’s book, sat down at their tomato-red kitchen table and jotted some notes about a vampire rabbit and the “typical American family” with whom he came to reside. There were a brother and sister, their parents, a cat named Chester, and, of course, “Count Bunnicula,” the mysterious rabbit. By the next day, the brother and sister had become two brothers, and another pet had been added to the family—Harold, a dog.
Bunnicula—A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery
by Deborah and James Howe was published in April 1979. Debbie, who had been diagnosed with cancer several months into the writing of the book, did not live to see it in print. She died in June 1978, at the age of thirty-one. Getting on with my life as best I could, I continued with my day job as an assistant to a literary agent while going to school in the evenings to earn a master’s degree in theater directing. I had lost interest in an acting career and gave little thought to the book Debbie and I had written just for fun or the impact its publication might have—although, truth be told, the day I first held the published book in my hands was one of the most thrilling of my life.
The impact, however, occurred gradually. One day I found an envelope in my mailbox with my name and address written in pencil in a childlike hand.
What in the world can this be?
I asked myself as I tore it open and withdrew the letter from inside. No wonder the handwriting had been childlike—the letter was from a child. It had never occurred to me that I would get actual letters from actual readers!
And then there was my first invitation to speak in a school. When the day came, I wore a three-piece suit—that’s how important I thought it was. When
Bunnicula
won its first children’s choice award—Nebraska’s Golden Sower Award—I scribbled my acceptance speech on a scrap of paper while on the plane to Lincoln, Nebraska, only to be informed when I arrived that
I
was the morning program—three hours’ worth!—for an audience of librarians and teachers. It was that morning that I discovered I could think—and
talk
—on my feet!
But I was discovering something else as well. Not only was
Bunnicula
becoming a popular book, it was taking on a life of its own—and that life was turning
my
life into the story with thousands of characters and unexpected plot twists. The large cast of characters included readers and parents, teachers and librarians, fellow authors and illustrators, and a vast array of publishing people—all of whom were absolutely devoted to something called “children’s literature.” I was becoming part of a world I hadn’t even known existed a few short years ago.
In 1981 I left my job with the literary agency where I had worked for seven years, gave up my aspirations of becoming a theater director, and did what my mother had always said I should do. I became a writer. That year, I completed
Howliday Inn
, the first of five sequels to
Bunnicula
. That was also the year, I believe, that I was invited to be on a local TV children’s talk show in Baltimore, Maryland. I was on for all of two minutes at the end of the program, and the first question I was asked (by a twelve-year-old girl) was, “Why did you put all those hard words in your book?”
Hard words? I had no idea I had put hard words in
Bunnicula
. I don’t remember what I answered, beyond, “Uh, um, er …,” but I have often thought of that moment because it made me grateful that Debbie and I had not really known what we were doing when we wrote the book. We had no idea what kinds of books children were reading or how we might gear the vocabulary or sentence structure or humor to someone younger than ourselves. We wrote a book that made
us
laugh, that entertained us first and foremost.
And that is a key to the book’s success, I think, because in writing something that truly made us laugh, we were able to make others laugh as well. Through the years, I have often been told that
Bunnicula
has opened the door to reading for many children—even
with
all those hard words. What an unexpected plot twist
that
was!
There have been many other plot twists to
Bunnicula
—awards; translations into foreign languages; two audiotape versions; play adaptations that have been staged all across the country; an animated TV special back in the 1980s; the hope of a movie even now (my fingers are crossed as I type this, which, let me tell you, is no mean feat!); picture books, chapter books, activity books, a joke book, and a pop-up book; a series featuring Howie the dachshund puppy (one of my favorite characters to write, Howie showed up unexpectedly at the end of
Howliday Inn
and has been an important part of the books ever since); letters and letters and more letters from readers; and, now, a whole new generation of readers. But the best plot twist of all is still the fact that this book has opened the door for so many young people to enter the world of reading.
Bunnicula
opened the door wide for me as well—to a life of writing and a world of characters—both real and fictional—that I could never have imagined sitting at that tomato-red kitchen table so long ago.