‘A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo’ Is a Must Read

I’m not one of the usual book reviewers here at the Geekiary, but I couldn’t pass up A Day In The Life of Marlon Bundo.  I’m a big fan of children’s books that promote diversity, and this one is donating their proceeds to The Trevor Project and AIDS United.  It also has the added bonus of pissing off Mike Pence, which is just fantastic.  So all around a worthwhile thing to support.

A Day In The Life of Marlon Bundo is the trollish work of John Oliver and his Last Week Tonight crew.  Last weekend’s episode centered around Mike Pence and his anti LGBTQ+ history, but he wrapped up his piece by saying one nice thing about our current Vice President – he really likes Pence’s rabbit, Marlon Bundo.  In fact, he likes his rabbit so much he was almost excited to hear that there was a book about him coming out.  That is, until he saw one of the stops on the book tour was the notoriously anti-LGBTQ+ group Focus On The Family.  In response to this, John Oliver and crew put together their own Marlon Bundo book, where he’s a happily gay rabbit who falls in love with another boy rabbit.  It’s a big gay rabbit love story and it’s absolutely amazing.

The book is co-written by Last Week Tonight staff writer Jill Twiss, it’s (unsurprisingly) outselling Pence’s book, and the hard copy sold out in a single day (it’s going back to be reprinted already).  The audio book features such talent as Jim Parsons,‎ Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jeff Garlin, Ellie Kemper,‎ John Lithgow,‎ Jack McBrayer,‎ and RuPaul.  Even if you get a hard copy or digital copy, it might be worth getting the audio copy, too, just to hear this ridiculously loaded amount of talent.  In fact, if you can afford multiple copies you can seek comfort in the fact that all all proceeds go to some fantastic charities.  We here at The Geekiary are particular fond of the Trevor Project and have fundraised for them in the past.  Needless to say, if you can buy one for yourself and a kid you know, or even a local library, it’s worth the money to not only spread the love around, but support these two awesome organizations.  You can even donate directly to the Trevor Project and AIDS United and get a free copy for yourself, too.  There’s a lot of options and a lot of different benefits for whatever way you choose to go.

The thing about A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo is that, even though it began as a work to troll Pence, it’s actually a pretty quality story and delightful book on its own.  It’s simply a cute story about two bunnies in love and that fight against a straightforward “bad guy” who wants to keep them apart.  The story is accessible to small kids without adding in complex ideas way above their head, but still funny enough and meaningful enough for adults without feeling like it’s been “dumbed down” for a younger audience.  It’s found that fantastic middle ground.  I know a lot of people who have bought the book for their own children, and a lot of childless adults who bought copies exclusively for themselves. It works for everyone.

Watch the full segment about Pence’s history with the LGBTQ+ community and what led to A Day In The Life of Marlon Bundo below. And don’t forget to get your own copy of the book and help support two amazing charities (and troll Pence) in the process!

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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