The Bunnicula Collection: Three Hare-Raising Tales in One Volume

Bunnicula #1-2 & 6

by James Howe

Collection of 3 stories
Bunnicula
Howliday Inn
Bunnicula Strikes Again!

Genres: Childrens

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

James Howe has written more than eighty books in the thirty-plus years he's been writing for young readers. It sometimes confuses people that the author of the humorous Bunnicula series also wrote the dark young adult novel, The Watcher, or such beginning reader series as Pinky and Rex and the E.B. White Read Aloud Award-winning Houndsley and Catina and its sequels. But from the beginning of his career (which came about somewhat by accident after asking himself what kind of vampire a rabbit might make), he has been most interested in letting his imagination take him in whatever direction it cared to. So far, his imagination has led him to picture books, such as I Wish I Were a Butterfly and Brontorina (about a dinosaur who dreams of being a ballerina), mysteries, poetry (in the upcoming Addie on the Inside), and fiction that deals with issues that matter deeply to him. He is especially proud of The Misfits, which inspired national No Name-Calling Week (www.nonamecallingweek.org) and its sequel Totally Joe. He does not know where his imagination will take him in the next thirty-plus years, but he is looking forward to finding out.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out my reviews for each book listed on their individual pages.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure why I never read or remember hearing about the Bunnicula books as a child. They seem like something I would have really enjoyed. Reading them as an adult, I did enjoy them, but felt there were some shortcomings. First is with this specific collection. Why they chose to lump books #1,#2 and #6 (the last one) together, I am not sure. It's fine until book #6 includes animals from a previous book not included in the collection, yet you are supposed to know the animals and their stories. The second shortcoming, and my biggest complaint, is that these books are lacking Bunnicula. He is not in the second book (The Howliday Inn) at all aside from a brief mention, and in the other two books he seems to be quite a minor character. The main characters are Harold the dog and Chester the cat, who are entertaining enough, but I was promised vampire bunny and I want more than what was given. These two gripes aside, if you have kids, or just enjoy cute talking animal adventures from the late 70s to early 90s, I would say go ahead and give these a try. I would definitely recommend finding the individual books instead of this collection, so you could read all in a logical order.

[Uri Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a little disconcerting to read the third of the three books collected here. While the first two are #1 and #2 in the series, the third book (Bunnicula Strikes Again!) is #6 in the series. That's not the problem -- the problem is that it makes references to #5 (Return to Howliday Inn) and has characters from that book show up whom the reader is expected to be familiar with.

So it's probably better to read the books separately and in order, rather than read this collection of #1, #2, and #6.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

always fun to read a kids book every so often

[Rebecca Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cute books, I remember them being read aloud in elementary school. Fun and nostalgic to reread. The only odd thing with this collection (Bunnicula, Howliday Inn, Bunnicula Strikes Again!) is that there's 3 other books chronologically between Howliday Inn and Bunnica Strikes Again! Would have preferred to have the first 3 books in one volume instead of them being mixed.

[Terri Light · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much more than amusing but it made me smile a few times. Going in the swap pile.

[2 Alex E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ths book wa a good combo of mystery and scary.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great chapter book for young readers. It was my first (real) chapter book ever!