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Submitted by Amanda S
Who didn’t love the book series about the vegetable-draining vampire bunny? From the moment when the baby bunny’s new family discovers a white tomato in the kitchen, drained completely dry of juice, most kids were hooked!
James and Deborah Howe’s Bunnicula was first introduced in 1979, back before everything cool about vampire mythology was appropriated by moody, Hot Topic-loving teenagers.
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I loved this book! I remember in 1st grade I read that book and then made a board game about the book for a class assignment. It was really fun.
I read at least 3 of these books. So much win I can’t express myself.
Oh my god!!! I loved this book!!! I remember when my 3rd grade teacher introduce me to it and the rest in the series. One of my favorite childhood series!!!
I named my pet rabbit in honor of Bunnicula, cause she had a really faint little cape on her as well. Loved these books, they were awesome to read
we also named our rabbit Bunnicula, she had black “eyeliner” around both eyes and black on the tips of her ears.
loved these books!
I guess my idea of naming my rabbit Bunnicula wasn’t so original. XD
I remember reading these books, and I still read the series over and over, though my copies look like they can’t handle the abuse anymore.
I remember this book, but what I remember most were the illustrations. The one depicting the cat trying to kill the vampire bunny by pounding a steak through its heart was hilarious.
Yep, these were great. Chester the cat, and was it Harold? the dog? I still remember random lines from these books.
Like Harold wanting Steak Tartare, even though he didn’t know what it was, pretending to be a clump of bushes (although with furry tails) finding the collar with Rosebud on it. (Homages to things like Citizen Kane, and Shakespeare in a kids book? Amazing!)
I remember these books, but I can’t actually remember reading them. I’m so sad! ;_;
The celery stalks at midnight!
I had forgotten about those books until now. I loved them! I remember I had a stuffed black and white rabbit that I took a sharpie to to give it a widow’s peak and called it Bunnicula.
This series was hands down my favorite series as a kid! I LOVED it, now I’m going to have to go out and buy em all again!
MzHartz: I did the exact same thing! lol. Only my stuffed rabbit was completely white so I sharpied the whole “cape” onto it too. =P
OMG, I also will have to go buy these! I had forgotten them as well, but it’s all coming back!!!! AWESOME!
Don’t forget Howliday Inn!
Yeah, these books were the best, and thankfully my stepson enjoyed them as well, so now we’ve got the whole set again. James Howe wrote a 4th book since I was in grade school. Just great books! Thanks, James! You made reading fun!
Oh my gosh! I still *have* this book and it’s one of two I’ve ever had signed. Don’t know what happened to the dust cover tho…
I remember my mom renting the whole book series on tape when we went on a long summer drive once, I loved them to bits.
Bunnicula on tape is one of my fondest childhood memories.
Aaaaahhhhh! (ballistic fangirl spazdance!) I still have my original copies, one signed by the authors! I still remember a Bunnicula book I found only in the library. Happy memories! Must go read again. NOW.
Oh wow! I had no idea “Bunnicula” was that old. I remember seeing it in the library back when I was in elementary school(in the ’90s) and I remember when my youngest sister was reading those books- she loved them!
so THIS is where disapprovingrabbits dot com got it’s start!
I LOVED Howliday Inn – it was my favorite!
Aw I loved this book. I had a copy signed by the Author.
i wanted to name my rabbit bunnicula, but my husband would not let me! these were one of my favorite book series as a kid!
I has a happy
My submission made it and everyone is having such wonderful nostalgia as a result! Hubby and I expecting first baby; can’t wait to read these books with our future kid!!
Yay, Amanda S! I love Bunnicula, too! It’s such a cute book.
I tried explaining the concept these books to someone lately, and I’m pretty sure I only succeeded in creeping them out a little. “Vampire bunny rabbits? Yeeeah, sure.”
Yeah… Bunnicula is one of those books that adults who never experienced it are going to give you weird looks about. So the only thing to do is shove it into their hands, point them towards a child, and say, “Go read this to Timmy over there.” They’ll understand once they’ve read it.
hahaha my 5th grade teacher read this to us,everybody loved it lol.
As soon as i found out the wife and i were having a kid, i immediately bought this classic series from my childhood! can’t wait to have him grow up with Bunnicula too!
Yay and woo. Our teacher read this book to us in 2nd grade, and it’s what got me interested in vampires in the first place.
Loved the series. Who can forget Chester staking all the drained veggies with toothpicks, or worrying about the “really hairy wired-haired Dachshunds” that he was convinced were werewolves (not in the same book). Hadn’t realized how long they had been around, though.
Epic win indeed.
YES. Oh yes.
OMG! This book was an absolute favorite of mine
Anyone remember the cartoon Saturday morning special for it?
They just don’t write classics like this anymore!
Oh hells to the yes. I loved these books! I really should just grab copies for my library for myself and future kids/friend’s children.
I remember these back in Schoolastic’s glory days. I never did get them, I had some misgivings about stuff like this. With the way vampires are now (Edward and his sparkling problems) I almost don’t regret getting This series.
WHY EDWARD!?!?
Because Stephanie Meyer is just weird. I don’t know what her problem is.
Oh MAN! Bunnicula!
This was the first novel I ever read. <3
I am sad now because I don’t know where my book is ><
I still remember the line that made me stumble clear out of my 3rd grade classroom laughing hysterically:
“That means, Oh no! Minion Onions!”
This was one of the few books that I didn’t buy as a kid; I must have checked it out a dozen times or better from the school library. When I saw it last year (as a 24-year-old high school English teacher) I bought the whole set and sat down for a few hours of wonderful memories. Truly an epic win.
Bunnicula… the only TRUE vegetarian vampire.
Exactly. Those “vampires” in the Twilight saga are fakes. I strongly dislike Meyer for making sparkly vampires and brainwashing preteen girls with her vampire crap.
I miss when vampires were feared, unpopular, and monstrous =)
OMG I LOVED THIS BOOK SERIES. I read all of them, they were fantastic….I really want to go get them now lol. I even had a rabbit nammed Bunnicula
I LOVED this book! I read it so many times that the cover was worn & ripped.
Best part about that book series was while Harold and Chester ‘talked’, Bunnicula never did.
Also, for a warped child, this was my favorite series ever. I loved vampires, and bunnies. What could be better than vampire bunnies?
This is still a fantastic book, grown-ups can enjoy it even more than kids! If you need a laugh (or 20) read it!
Oh, yes!!! I remember hearing Bunnicula in 3rd grade and couldn’t wait to get my own copy. Now, about 30 years later, I got the first three books on CD (read by Victor Garber) for my 5-year-old daughter to listen to on a long car ride, and we both loved it. We read “Return to Howliday Inn” and “Nighty-Nightmare” and listened to “Bunnicula Meets Edgar Allen Crow” (which is replete with digs at RL Stine, and trivia about Poe and ravens). She’s now starting to enjoy chapter books, because of Bunnicula.
The CD set had a special track of James Howe describing how he and his late wife Deborah came to create Bunnicula and how they struggled to get the book written before her death from cancer. I hope somewhere Deborah Howe is delighted to see how many children and adults have loved her creation.
Recently audiobooked these from the library website and they ARE truly awesome. There was an afterword by James Howe and he talked about how Deborah died suddenly of cancer after Bunnicula but how she came up with so many of the character bits and stuff so that’s why she’s still co-author.
I cried at work listening to that. T_T!
I totally missed above comment about the same thing, haha. I look like an idiot….
I literally hadn’t thought about this book in YEARS. I am going to buy them all right now. I can smell the erasers from the Book Fair now …
Ah warm fuzzy childhood memories
. My dad used to read these to me when I was little. They’re still great!
Bunnicula is my daughter’s favorite series (she just turned 8). She started reading last November, and the Bunnicula early readers are one of the only things she enjoys reading by herself. The titles of the early readers are Scared Silly, Hot Fudge, The Fright Before Christmas… I think there are 6 of them. And I’ve read her the main books 4 or 5 times each.
I love the books for the humor and vocabulary and because Howe did not write “down” to kids. My daughter also spends a surprising amount of time analyzing everything. Recently she decided that Chester had never *truly* hated Bunnicula, because Chester is too smart to confuse steak and stake, so he wasn’t really trying to harm Bunnicula. It was just an act.
Also she wants James Howe to write a book where for once Chester is correct! I guess we’ll have to send him a letter.
LOVED this book series growing up! I near when I found some near mint condition soft copies of the old original releases at a flea market last year.
Heh, I remember this was the first series I ever wrote a fan fiction to. Wow, that was so long ago, but I think I still have the old notebook I wrote it in somewhere.
I still remember that Harold loved Hostess Cupcakes!
~~Bee
This was one of my favorite books as a kid. Chester the cat was hilarious, and the interactions between him and Harold as they tried to solve the mystery of the pale veggies in their fridge were epic. I’m thinking about going to the library and checking out this book so I can read it again (even though I’m 23) =)