Bunnicula — Chapter 2

About This Passage

These two sentences show us Chester trying to be sensible. He has just heard strange music in the night, looked out the window, and discovered that the music is coming from his neighbor's violin. There is nothing scary at all. The author calls the music 'haunting' (which means it stays with you and makes you feel something) but then has Chester realize that he should not read so many horror stories at night, because the stories are starting to make him see scary things that are not really there. Copying these sentences teaches a writer how a character can talk to himself and how the author can show us a character's thinking on the page.

Narration Prompt

Tell someone what happened in this chapter in order. When you get to the most important part, slow down and tell it carefully — what happened, why it mattered, and what you think about it.

Discussion Questions

1. In Chapter 1, we met Chester the cat as a creature who likes to sit in his armchair and read books. Now in Chapter 2, Harold tells us that Chester reads mystery stories and 'tales of horror and the supernatural.' Does reading scary stories make Chester smarter, or does it make him imagine scary things that are not really there? What in the story makes you think so?
2. Chester thinks he sees the rabbit's normal black markings turn into a 'cape,' and then he thinks he sees the rabbit's teeth become 'two little pointed fangs.' Are Chester's eyes telling him the truth, or is his mind playing tricks on him because he has been reading scary books? What in the story makes you think so?

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide