Item - The Great Easter Bunny Adventure

This is definitely a weird one; I can't help wondering if there's some sort of message hidden in here. Then again, maybe it's just a children's introduction to surrealism.

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An Easter gamebook, and by Edward Packard? Count me in. You awaken on Easter morning as first dawn lights the sky, and spot a rabbit in the backyard. Is it the Easter bunny? You are surprised the bunny lets you scoop him in your arms. You take him to your room, eager to show your family once they get out of bed. Dozing off, you wake with a start to see the bunny listening intently at your door. You release him and he runs out of the house, but as you follow you realize the landscape is utterly changed. This isn't your neighborhood, and your house is gone. The bunny lopes down the right fork of a trail ahead, but should you go after him or walk toward the farmhouse down the left fork?

If you call out, the bunny answers, admitting you've traveled back in time. He'll escort you home right away if you wish, though you get a surprise after crawling inside your bedroom window. Maybe you'd rather accompany the bunny to the future before heading home; he takes you to an ice age with freezing weather and heavy snow to trudge through. The bunny won't allow anything dire to happen even if you give up and flop in the snow, but persevere and you'll end up in a pleasant spot before waking up snug in your bed Easter morning.

What if you parted ways with the bunny at that first fork in the road? The family living on the farm is cordial, but shows concern at the wild story you tell. Run back to the road to catch up with the bunny, and you find yourself in a wooded area three hundred years before your time, where you might meet a pair of Indian braves. The bunny is nearby for rescue if you want to leave; he could take you further back in time before the Indians lived, or even to the era of dinosaurs. Will you haul a dinosaur egg home as a souvenir, or drift back into the more distant past, before sentient life? Maybe you allowed the Indian braves to lead you to their village, where you meet their families. Exploring another part of the woods could see you meet a settler family in the year 1687, who happen to have found a familiar bunny with the power to send you home. Whatever adventure you prefer, the bunny acts as your guardian angel on this Easter morning voyage through time.

Quirky this book is, but loads of fun. An ending or two delves into the concept of birth, death, and regeneration that Easter is all about, though in terms applicable to secular readers. Perhaps the book's best attribute is Vincent Bell's illustrations: moody and panoramic, they are some of my favorite in any Choose Your Own Adventure. The Great Easter Bunny Adventure doesn't rank among the elite gamebooks, but is a highlight of the Bantam Skylark Choose Your Own Adventure series, and has been part of my family's Easter tradition most of my life.

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