Pence’s rabbit Marlon Bundo hopping back to bookshelves
Marlon Bundo is bouncing back to bookshelves, though there’s no word on if he’ll get a John Oliver-produced parody of his bunny adventures this time.
Charlotte Pence, a writer and daughter of Vice President Pence, has penned her second book focused on the family’s real-life pet rabbit, who often goes by “BOTUS,” the “Bunny of the United States.” The new tale released Tuesday, “Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Nation’s Capital,” follows the furry creature around famed Washington sites. Charlotte Pence’s mom, Karen Pence, illustrated the book.
{mosads}“This book is about Marlon going through the nation’s capital and seeing all the monuments and the memorials,” Charlotte Pence tells ITK. The book, geared toward first- to fifth-graders, teaches children about the Pledge of Allegiance as Bundo bounces along from the Supreme Court to the Library of Congress to Arlington National Cemetery.
Charlotte Pence, 25, says she and her mom actually did their own sightseeing tour of sorts to help map out Bundo’s escapade.
“My mom and I last summer went around D.C. and we took a little stuffed Marlon Bundo that we have, and we put him in poses near a lot of the memorials and monuments,” she said. “It was kind of to help her frame what the illustrations would be.”
“When we were driving around in her Secret Service vehicles and jumping out to take pictures with a stuffed bunny, that was pretty hilarious,” she recalls with a chuckle.
Marlon Bundo’s latest adventure is a follow-up to Charlotte Pence’s 2018 bestseller “A Day in the Life of the Vice President.” Her first children’s book received intense media attention after HBO “Last Week Tonight” host Oliver announced a spoof version.
{mossecondads}In “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Presents a Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo,” Bundo is gay — a dig at the vice president’s stance on LGBT issues. Oliver said proceeds from the sale of the parody books would go to AIDS United and the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization for LGBT youth.
Charlotte Pence told ITK at the time that she would be picking up a copy of Oliver’s book because it supports charity.
In an interview this week, she said she would “welcome” another satirical effort from Oliver.
“I would say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery,” she says.
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