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Title: A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo
Author: Marlon Bundo with Jill Twiss
Illustrator: E. G. Keller
Genre: Picture Book, Social Issues, Animals, Banned Books
Audience: Children
Format: E-book
My Synopsis:
Marlon Bundo is the BOTUS, the Bunny of the United States. He lives a lonely life in a big, boring house until one day he meets Wesley, the most bunny-beautiful rabbit in the garden. It’s love at first sight. They decide they want to get married and hop together forever. But the Stink Bug tells them that boy bunnies can only marry girl bunnies. What can they do?
My Review:
This is cute but it might work slightly better as a political satire for adults than as a straightforward picture book. Children will enjoy the lovely illustrations and the basic story as a kind of fairy tale but older readers will recognize Mike Pence, Marlon’s owner, and his political rhetoric as the Stink Bug.
Either way, the happily-ever-after, the importance of voting, and the celebration of differences both big and small are sure to please readers of all ages who believe, like Marlon, that “Stink bugs are temporary. Love is forever.”
Banned:
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo is #3 on the list of the top ten most challenged books in 2019. It’s been challenged and vandalized because it’s “designed to pollute the morals of its readers.” I only saw love, some satire, and friends who peacefully stand up to bullies and support each other. What’s immoral about that?
In a twist that I find particularly satisfying, 100% of the proceeds from the sales of this book are being donated to The Trevor Project and AIDS United.
Similar Books:
If you liked A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, you might also like my reviews of these banned/challenged children’s and middle grade books:
- And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
- In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
- The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
Purchase:
Buy A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo from Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville, NC.
I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site.
3 Comments
We watch Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, so I knew about “the bunny book” from his show. I bought both the hardback and the audiobook version of the book because of it. In fact, I’ve read the hardback before, but I don’t think I’ve listened to the audio version yet. Maybe this week will be the perfect time for it! I agree with your assessment of the book, by the way. I think it’s a very sweet book with a dose of satire thrown in.
Once I downloaded it, I remembered seeing John Oliver read it on his show. We don’t have HBO so I must have seen it on YouTube or something. I saw other reviewers mention that the audiobook is excellent!
We have HBO pretty much exclusively for Last Week Tonight. (We use it for other things also, but that show is why we keep it.) They had a clip of the audiobook on the episode where they talked about it, and it was great!