Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery, by Deborah and James Howe. Atheneum, 1979

Having come of age in the 60s, I didn’t get to grow up with Bunnicula. Which is a shame, because I would have loved it as a youngster. The story is told via a manuscript written by a dog, Harold. He and feline Chester live in the Monroe household peacefully, spending their time reading, eating, and napping. Then one night the family comes back from the movies having found a small rabbit abandoned in a seat. The odd creature sleeps all day and has markings on his back suggestive of a black cape. Then Chester-whose favorite reading material is horror stories- develops a creepy theory about Bunnicula…

The book says the story is for those 8 to 12 years old; I think it would appeal to even the very young, while the writing is sophisticated enough for those older. 

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Moth Flight’s Vision, by Erin Hunter. Harper, 2015

Moth Flight is young, a kitten on the verge of cat-hood. She seems unable to do anything properly and this is a source of great aggravation to her mother, the leader of the Wind Clan. She is sent to hunt, and instead finds herself distracted by interesting plants and wondering what uses they might have. She goes off on what turns out to be a vision quest, and is spoken to by the spirits of cats passed on already: she, and a cat in each of the other Clans, is to learn to use herbs and heal and become Medicine Cats. She returns to tell this tale, and it’s greeted with a fair bit of antagonism- peace between the Clans has been sorely won, the clans don’t mix or visit, and most are not willing to test that peace. Most, that is, except for the young cats chosen to learn healing- they all have a natural bent for it. The project of all of the ‘interns’ going from Clan to Clan to learn all they can from each other takes off, despite border skirmishes. But not all the cats want peace, and some have grudges that could cause real trouble. The feral cats have all the traits of real cats, and also the ability to reason and communicate like humans (who they avoid- to call someone a ‘kittypet’ is a big insult!).

I didn’t realize when I picked this book up that it was part of a series- it seems to be part of a ‘prequel’ series for the Warrior Clans. I’m not sure how many are in the series, but it’s a LOT. I enjoyed the book; the cats have personalities that are fairly well drawn. It is a children’s series, but there is some violence, death, and the book is very sad in places. Not that I feel those things have to be removed from books for children; just a warning. Not sure if I’ll pick up any more books from the series or not- I suspect that if I see one at the library, I’ll bring it home, but I probably won’t hunt for them. In other words, good, but not fantastic to an adult. I would have loved it as a kid. 

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something- anything- Amazon will give me a few cents. This in no way influenced my review.