BOOK REVIEW: My Dead Bunny by Sigi Cohen, illustrated by James Foley

BOOK REVIEW: My Dead Bunny by Sigi Cohen, illustrated by James Foley 

Walker Books
October 2015
Hardcover, $19.95
Reviewed by Steph O’Connell

9/10

My dead bunny’s name is Brad; 
His odour is extremely bad.
He visits me when I’m in bed,
But Bradley wasn’t always dead…

It all began last holiday,
When Stan and Billy came to stay;
We played a game on my TV,
A game called Zombie Terror 3.

I guess that Brad got kind of bored.
He nibbled through the TV cord. 

The narrator’s bunny is electrocuted after chewing through the tv cord while the narrator and his friends were playing Zombie Terror 3. A fried Bunny Brad is then committed to the ground, but our narrator isn’t ready to let him go just yet.

I poked at Bradley with a stick – 
His fur was muddy, damp and thick, 
And in his final resting place, 
The worms had tried to eat his face. 

Now Bunny Brad won’t go away, and his family can’t escape him… even when they run away to a hotel.

Right after seeing Bunny Brad, 
My sister went completely mad; 
Some men in white took her away,

But Bunny Brad was here to stay.

But never you fear, our narrator has a plan!

 

This is a fantastically funny read, and the paring of morbidly light and funny lines with the illustrations, which could only be described as Gothic, will keep you turning pages. The fact that the rhyming is similar to that which you would find in a Dr Seuss or Hairy Maclary book just manages to add to the humour. And, in fact, this book would go well on the shelf next to a copy of Zombie McCrombie from an Overturned Kombi (review to come soon) and other “messed up” versions of the classic kids books which have become so popular of late.

This is a must have in any zombie-enthusiast household, and is the perfect way to convince your little ones of just how much fun zombies can be.

You might buy this book as a joke, but it’s bound to become a family favourite in no time.

Category: Book Reviews, Other Reviews