An Easter Treat: Top 10 Bunnies

It’s been much too long since I posted a Top 10 List! Since Easter is coming up on Sunday, this seems like a good time to think about bunnies. Now the Easter Bunny has the focus in this season — and rightfully so — but there are plenty of other bunnies we can focus on for this post.
So for Deep-Fried Friday, let’s skin that rabbit and heat up the oil in the Fry Daddy talk about some of my other favorite bunnies.
10. Thumper. Thumper is the young fictional rabbit from the Disney movie Bambi. He is known for his habit of thumping his foot repeatedly. A sweet rabbit by all accounts, he also shared with us “Thumper’s law” taught to him by his father: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.”
9. Bunny. I grew up watching Bewitched and have probably seen all of its episodes twice. So I recall vividly the character named Bunny. Samantha’s Uncle Arthur turned a bunny into a person for Tabitha’s birthday in the aptly-named episode “A Bunny for Tabitha.” Bunny promptly falls in love with a visitor to Samantha’s house and their relationship is only broken when Bunny reveals how many children she wants to have. After all, she is a bunny. Somehow, I think that outfit was a bit much for a children’s birthday party, though.
8. Bunnicula. James Howe and his late wife Deborah wrote the first book together, Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery. The main character and narrator, a dog named Harold, suspects the family’s new pet of being a vampire rabbit. After all, it has fangs and sucks the juice from vegetables. You can follow the adventures of Harold, the cat Chester, and Bunnicula in the series of seven books. Howe also launched two spin-off series called Tales from the House of Bunnicula and Bunnicula and Friends.
7. Roger Rabbit. Roger Rabbit pairs up with a detective played by Bob Hoskins to try to find out who framed him for murder. Along the way, Roger reveals his crazy antics and the love of a woman whose name “Jessica Rabbit” conjures happy cartoon images for many men across America. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? isn’t an incredible movie, but it is fun. And Roger’s a hoot.
6. The White Rabbit. Though not the most lovable character himself, we would have no Alice in Wonderland if she had not followed the White Rabbit down the hole. As he runs off muttering that he is late for a very important date, Alice begins her adventures which involve encountering him a few more times, with a particularly memorable scene of Alice growing and getting stuck inside the White Rabbit’s House.
5. Trix Rabbit. The Trix Rabbit has been around since 1959 — first as a puppet, then an animation. The ongoing plot is that the Trix Rabbit will do anything to get his hands on a bowl of Trix, but children remind him, “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!” The Trix Rabbit has twice been allowed to eat cereal after a campaign that had kids vote YES or NO to his request; the kids were nice and shared their Trix. What do I like about the Trix Rabbit? Long before the stupid Energizer Bunny entered the scene, the Trix Rabbit had mastered persistence. You gotta admire that a little.
4. Were-Rabbit. Wallace & Gromit are an inventor and his dog. There were on British TV for years and then had a feature film called The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. If you didn’t see it, why not? It’s fabulous. There is a gigantic rabbit destroying the vegetable gardens in town, and Wallace and Gromit work together to discover who the Were-Rabbit could be. Here’s the trailer:
[youtube=http://youtu.be/gYEnCCJdDvs&w=450]
3. Harvey. In the play by Mary Chase and the 1950 movie of the same name, Elwood P. Dowd is a nice, mild-mannered guy who happens to have an imaginary friend. Said friend’s name is Harvey, and he is a six-foot rabbit. Why do I love Harvey? Because hey, if you’re going to have an imaginary friend, why not make him a 6-foot rabbit?! That’s commitment! This story also makes me wonder why we let our imaginary friends from childhood go. (Well, not us writers; we keep our imaginary friends and then turn them into something respectable called fiction.)
2. The Velveteen Rabbit. Author Margery Williams introduced us to the Velveteen Rabbit. In the tale, a young boy is given a stuffed rabbit for Christmas. The rabbit wants so very much to be real. The Skin Horse informs the rabbit that he will become real by being loved by the boy. Indeed, the Velveteen Rabbit is so loved that he appears ragged to all others. When the boy becomes ill with scarlet fever, and all of the toys are slated to be burned, the Velveteen Rabbit is made real because of the boy’s love and released into the forest. Every time I read this book or hear the story, my heart gets mushy. Didn’t we all have one special stuffed animal or blanket or toy growing up?
1. Bugs Bunny. When I first started making the list, I thought I would put the Velveteen Rabbit in the #1 spot. But my humorous (or sarcastic) side won out! I LOVE BUGS BUNNY. A witty bunny with a Brooklyn accent who outsmarts all around him? He is the definition of cool.
Here’s one of my favorite bits from him:
[youtube=http://youtu.be/FOTlNOZB4Zo&w=450]
Rabbits are featured in quite a few books, films, and TV shows. Who are your favorite fictional bunnies? Happy Easter!