With the Trilliums finally in bloom, the grass at last green, birds of bold color wholeheartedly returning to the trees and my spirits at long last a-sail with them, I made the decision to turn toward a tome of lesser weight. Perhaps something whimiscal with a spot of humor and even a dash of illustrations thrown in, I thought. And that is when it struck me, I needed a dose of Polly Horvath and her ridiculous, riotus, and bewhiskered protagonists Mr. and Mrs. Bunny.
Having spent over 250 pages in deep belly laughter throughout author Horvath's first children's novel featuring Mr. and Mrs. Bunny titled "Mr. and Mrs. Bunny - Detectives Extraordinaire" when the sequel, "Lord and Lady Bunny - Almost Royalty" arrived in the library, I could hardly wait to pick it up. Apparently I wasn't the only one though, as the book failed to last more than a few hours on the shelf each time it returned. But just last week, nearly six months after we purchased it my turn finally arrived. Boy was it worth the wait.
Like "Detectives Extraordinaire," "Almost Royalty" not only features the absurd Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, but the ten year old wiser than her years Madeline, her, not so wise for their years, hippy-dippy parents as well as most of the other characters readers came to love. This time around though, the bulk of the story takes place both on a cruise ship and in England rather than British Columbia. The pretense for this setting? Why Mr. and Mrs. Bunny are in need of new jobs of course.
Having tired of being detectives, Mrs. Bunny has now decided that what she would like most to be is... Queen of England. Madeline and her parents on the other hand, just so happen to inherit a sweet shop over the water that they believe to be terribly profitable and set off to make their fortune. And thus their coincidental meeting and parallel trajectory, told in alternating human and rabbit chapters, is set.
Yet like its predecessor, plot is a word to be used very loosely as both novels use action simply to move readers from one absurdly hilarious situation to the next. Indeed, what matters in both "Mr. and Mrs. Bunny" adventures is satire, wry and oh-so clever humor, boisterously bouncy dialogue, as well as poignant and heartwarming moments (which are usually quickly followed by yet more gaiety). Top it all of with occasional droll and delightful illustrations by Sophie Blackall and, I dare say, one could surely call "Lord and Lady Bunny - Almost Royalty" a truly hoppin tale.
