Lord and Lady Bunny — Almost Royalty!: By Mr. & Mrs. Bunny
by Polly Horvath; illus. by Sophie Blackall
Intermediate    Schwartz & Wade/Random    293 pp.
2/14    978-0-307-98065-6    $16.99
Library ed.  978-0-307-98066-3    $19.99    g
e-book ed.  978-0-307-98067-0    $10.99

In this funny, meticulously crafted sequel to Mr. and Mrs. Bunny — Detectives Extraordinaire! (rev. 1/12), young Madeline desperately wants to save enough money for college; Mrs. Bunny, done with sleuthing, desperately wants to be queen. Somehow these two radically different desires result in both of them taking an ocean liner across the pond — along with Mr. Bunny (natch), Mrs. Treaclebunny (self-invited), Madeline’s school friend Katherine, and Madeline’s parents (who have serendipitously inherited a sweet shoppe in England). As in the first book, Horvath includes plenty of satire (overly energetic scrapbooking moms; royals and their loyal followers; people who leave their money to cats); winks at children’s literature (Horvath herself makes a bitingly funny appearance, at a book-signing seated next to Oldwhatshername, the elegant and svelte author of a ten-pound fantasy book); and, again, more lunacy than you can shake a carrot at: “‘Mrs. Bunny went to Bunnycostycost and brought home seventeen cartons of Frosted Flakes just for the box tops. She didn’t even check first to see if Mr. Bunny liked Frosted Flakes.’ ‘Oh well, it made excellent mulch,’ said Mrs. Bunny faintly.” One can only hope that Mr. and Mrs. B. have loads more madcap adventures to share with audiences — both bunny and human. Final art unseen.

From the January/February 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.