COLORADO SPRINGS — The bunny has landed — someone alert the Secret Service.
Marlon Bundo, the bunny bouncing along with the Pence family, made waves following the Inauguration. The second family’s pet rabbit has his own verified Instagram account with 30,100 followers, a Twitter account and now a book.
Second lady Karen Pence and her eldest daughter, Charlotte Pence, recently published “Marlon Bundo’s A Day in the Life of the Vice President.” The children’s book follows Vice President Mike Pence throughout his day and is narrated by the family’s pet rabbit. Charlotte Pence wrote the book while Karen Pence, a watercolor artist, illustrated it.
The book has garnered lots of attention. It even spurred a parody children’s book by “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver that has sold out on Amazon. His book — “A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo” — similarly features the bunny, although in this version, the story depicts Marlon Bundo falling in love with another male bunny.
Proceeds from the Pences’ book support causes championed by both women: A21, an organization aimed at stopping human trafficking; and Tracy’s Kids, an organization that helps children with cancer through art therapy. Proceeds from Oliver’s book are being donated to The Trevor Project and AIDS United.
The Pences stopped by Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs on Monday as part of their book tour. They took time beforehand to sit down and chat about Marlon Bundo, the process of writing the book and, yes, Oliver’s parody book.
Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Denver Post: Let’s start with art therapy. I know that’s your platform as second lady. Why is that something that you are passionate about?
Karen Pence: I just felt like art therapists were misunderstood. They have master’s and doctorate degrees. It’s not arts and crafts. That’s what everybody thinks when you say art therapy. They think, ‘Oh, I love to do art.’ But really it’s a therapeutic profession. Art therapists will take someone through a therapy lesson using art, and we’re seeing it be very successful with our vets with PTSD. It’s amazing.
DP: So tell me a little about this bunny. How did he come into your lives?
Charlotte Pence: I got him for a student film project in college. I got him on Craigslist. I needed a bunny for the film and the owner said to make me an offer. So it became kind of a “Godfather” joke and that was where his name came in because he’s named after Marlon Brando.
Then he kind of just became our pet. He was with me throughout college. I went to school in Chicago, so he lived with me in my apartment there. It’s been fun. He’s been part of the family.
DP: So where did the book idea come from?
C.P.: It really started with Marlon. His Instagram page that we got right after the Inauguration just became really popular, so we thought, ‘OK, we should do a children’s book at one point.’ And since my mom’s a really talented artist, we thought it would be really fun to do it together.
DP: How was working together? You have mother/daughter dynamics and you’re trying to make a book together. How did that go?
C.P.: It was really fun.
K.P.: We sat down when Charlotte decided she wanted to do it and said, “Let’s educate kids about what the vice presidency is.” Because there was a lot about the vice presidency we didn’t know until we were in this role, so we thought there were some interesting things here.
We made a list of things that would be fun to put in the book. Then she wrote a first draft and then I could go back and say, “Well” — like the balcony scene — “He actually can see the Washington Monument, so you need to put that in there.” So we kind of worked back and forth.
DP: Did you ever think you would create a children’s book prior to all this?
C.P.: I’ve always wanted to be a writer and I really, really like children’s literature and middle-grade fiction. I’ve always wanted to do it. I didn’t think necessarily it’d be about Marlon, but I probably could have guessed that because he’s so adorable.
DP: You think you’ll write more then?
C.P.: I want to! I think we would both love to do that.
DP: How has the book been received so far?
K.P.: It’s been amazing. I think the most fun thing for us when we go to book signings is the kids. Just seeing them. Charlotte captured one on her Instagram where this little girl was literally jumping up and down she was so excited.
C.P.: Some of them will bring their own stuffed bunny to meet us. I mean, it’s just really, really cute.
DP: As you know, John Oliver made a parody book. When you guys first heard about that, what was your response?
C.P.: Honestly, I think at the end of the day, it’s a good thing if we have books going to charities, especially books about bunnies and about Marlon. It’s ultimately a good thing.
DP: If you could say anything to him, is there something you’d like to tell him?
C.P.: No. I just think we kind of summed it up in saying the charities are something we can get behind. I bought his book to support those charities, too.
DP: How do you think it’s going to go today?
K.P.: I think they have a lot of kids coming. Really, that’s the part that’s the most fun for us. We have lots of children’s books that I’ve saved from my kids for when we have grandkids. Just to know this is something a family is going to cherish and have for a while is a humbling thing. It makes it really fun. I think especially for Charlotte, since she’s always wanted to be a writer.
