Wrap-around cover for A Home for Mr. Easter by Brooke A. Allen
Tesana is a big girl — think Lauren Zizes from Glee, but without the self-confidence. She just doesn’t fit in with her high school classmates and seems destined to be an outsider. Her two coping methods seem to be escaping into her daydreams or getting violent. But then she finds a little bunny that lays colorful eggs and, convinced that she’s found the Easter Bunny, sets out to get it back home.
A Home for Mr. Easter by Brooke Allen was published last year, but I didn’t read it until recently—just in time for Easter! Now, this is definitely not HOP — it’s a book for teens and adults, not little kids. As Tesana attempts to track down Mr. Easter’s home, she encounters a host of unsavory characters: Uri (of Uri’s Discount Pets); a bunch of scientists at a cosmetics factory and the mob of protesters picketing it; Masamilliano, Magician Extraordinaire! Meanwhile, Tesana’s mom and the local cops are out looking for her missing child.
It’s a bizarre, trippy comic book. For much of the book, you really don’t know how much of this is all in Tesana’s head. After all, one of the first scenes you’re treated to is a rainbow-farting unicorn that whisks her away to school so she doesn’t have to ride the bus … but that turns out to be simply a daydream. When Mr. Easter starts laying eggs and talking to Tesana, you really have no idea what’s real and what’s entirely in her head, which makes for some interesting tension.
I won’t spoil the ending for you, but if you’re looking for a funny adventure with some off-kilter humor, check out A Home for Mr. Easter. I can pretty much guarantee that it’s not like anything else you’ve read yet. Check out a short preview on NBM Publishing’s website, and then pick up the book from NBM or Amazon.
Disclosure: NBM provided a review copy of this book.
