Bunnicula — Chapter 7

Narration Prompt

Summarize Chapter 7's narrative arc, identify the turning point at which Harold shifts from complicity to resistance, and evaluate whether Howe handles this moral reversal with the seriousness it deserves.

Discussion Questions

1. Harold's acceptance that he must act alone is a precise dramatization of moral loneliness. Argue whether this experience deserves to be placed alongside similar moments in serious adult literature (Huck Finn's 'All right then, I'll go to hell,' Dietrich Bonhoeffer's decision to resist, contemporary whistleblower narratives) and consider what children's literature can add to this tradition.
2. Chester's 'cruel to be kind' is a Shakespearean borrowing (Hamlet III.iv). Argue that Howe's comic use of the phrase participates in a long tradition of literary inheritance, and consider whether children's literature is the right register for such inheritance or whether it dilutes the Shakespearean weight.

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide