LORD AND LADY BUNNY—ALMOST ROYALTY!

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny and the sixth-grade human child Madeline collide again in this silly, satirical sequel to Horvath’s Mr. and Mrs. Bunny—Detectives Extraordinaire! (2012).

Mrs. Bunny, always in search of a new job (and a new hat to go with it), has now decided she must become the queen of England, despite the fact that she’s from Canada…and a rabbit. Coincidentally, Madeline’s hippie mother inherits a sweet shoppe in the English village of Bellyflop, and so Madeline stumbles upon her dear bunny friends again—this time on an England-bound cruise ship. The adventure begins! Told in alternating sections—bunny, human, bunny, human—the stories of the dreams and delusions of the two traveling parties unfold, heavily seasoned with Horvath’s wry take on everything from social media to clotted cream to celebrity authors who write about wizards and magical candy. In fact, the author is having so much fun, her musings sometimes overwhelm the story, and readers won’t be surprised to find her bookstore cameo as Mrs. Bunny’s translator. The plot is unapologetically preposterous, but the truly witty banter, near-constant conflict and palpable love between Mr. and Mrs. Bunny are both genuinely affecting and uproariously funny. Blackall’s elegant, expressive black-and-white illustrations add whimsy to an already effervescent adventure.

A purely Horvath-ian (meaning hilarious) hop across the pond.