The Bad Bunnies’ Magic Show

Those, like me, who don’t pay full attention from page one might well wonder how two definitely incompetent (and very possibly bad) white rabbits have been left in charge of a magic show, masquerading as Mr Abra and Mr Cadabra. They certainly look very surprised at the results of some of their tricks. Abra (or is it Cadabra?) doesn’t look too happy at the prospect of his blindfolded partner throwing wicked looking knives at him. And has unlucky Brenda actually been sawn in half? Some simple fold-out pages and rhyming word-play (Hey Pristo/Near Misto for the knife throwing) add extra variety as each catastrophe unfolds in double page spreads. Order is at last restored with a traditional circus feat involving a cannon that neither bunny is happy about. The story is told trick by trick in bold ingenious illustrations and the ghost of Pienkowski’s classic Haunted House seems to be about, although the paper engineering here is nowhere as ambitious or fragile. Perhaps it’s the octopus?