A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo (2018)

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo is a 2018 children's book written by Jill Twiss and illustrated by EG Keller (a pseudonym of Gerald Kelley). The book is about a fictional day in the life of Marlon Bundo, the real-life pet rabbit of then-Vice President of the United States Mike Pence, and details the same-sex romance between Marlon Bundo and another rabbit named Wesley. It is a loose parody of Marlon Bundo's A Day in the Life of the Vice President, another children's book featuring Marlon Bundo written by Charlotte Pence and illustrated by Karen Pence.

The book and its LGBTQ-inclusive theme was written by Jill Twiss (with Marlon Bundo credited as co-writer), who is a comedy writer for the television show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, aiming to deride then-Vice President Pence over his controversial anti-LGBTQ views, such as his alleged support for gay conversion therapy and opposition to same-sex marriage. It was released on March 18, 2018, one day before the release of Marlon Bundo's A Day in the Life of the Vice President. The audiobook version features Jim Parsons, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jeff Garlin, Ellie Kemper, John Lithgow, Jack McBrayer, and RuPaul.

On the day of release, John Oliver promoted the book on Last Week Tonight at the conclusion of an episode mainly dedicated to Pence and his positions on LGBTQ issues; it became a bestseller and the No. 1 book and e-book on Amazon the following day. Oliver announced profits from the book were to be donated to The Trevor Project and AIDS United.

Background

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo was conceptualized as a loose parody of Marlon Bundo's A Day in the Life of the Vice President, a children's book written by Mike Pence's daughter Charlotte Pence and illustrated by his wife Karen Pence. Writer Jill Twiss stated she became interested in Bundo due to his name, and once she learned about the upcoming book she stated, "we thought we could use the opportunity to support some really great charities while also hopefully putting out an inclusive, loving children's book in the process". Helped by input from the writing staff of Last Week Tonight, Twiss' work was done in a few months, faster than the normal picture book process.

Oliver acquired two domain names to promote A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo. According to Oliver, the domain betterbundobook.com contrasts the book with the Pence-family-written Bundo book and focusonthefurmily.com satirizes the anti-LGBTQ organization Focus on the Family. In a broadcast on March 18, 2018, Oliver said that aside from sending an inclusive message, he was hoping to annoy Pence over the competition for his family's book and the fact that Last Week Tonight is donating all proceeds of its book to LGBTQ-friendly organizations (The Trevor Project and AIDS United).

Plot

Marlon Bundo, a black-and-white rabbit sporting a colorful bow tie, lives in the home of "Grampa", former Vice President Mike Pence. Marlon is lonely, but one morning after breakfast, he meets Wesley, a bespectacled brown rabbit. They spend the day together, hopping around in the garden and the house. They decide to get married, because they never want to hop without each other again.

Marlon and Wesley tell their animal friends, who respond enthusiastically. But the stink bug, who is "In Charge and Important", yells at them that boy rabbits can only marry girl rabbits. He calls them different, and he says that different is bad. The other animals speak up and tell him how each of them is different in their own way. They decide to vote on who is "In Charge and Important", and the stink bug is voted out. Marlon and Wesley have their wedding, with their friends in attendance. They go to sleep in anticipation of their "bunnymoon". Marlon is no longer lonely.

Analysis

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo is meant to be an actual children's story rather than a direct parody of the Pences' book, the publisher calling it a "better Bundo book". Oliver and his team wanted to mock the Vice President, but they also wanted to create a book that has "something very genuinely for children", according to Twiss. Twiss added that she hoped the book would resonate with children "feeling out of place or having a family that looks different than that of their friends," and that the main message was "different is special". It nevertheless contains some stabs at Mike Pence, with the Marlon Bundo character claiming that Pence "isn't very fun" and a stink bug character with a resemblance to Mike Pence. Twiss said in an interview that her ambition for the book was to make a heartfelt story and also to annoy Pence.

Publication

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo was published on March 18, 2018, the day of the Last Week Tonight broadcast about Pence. The publication of both books was used as a comedy piece in the broadcast to raise awareness of Mike Pence's stated anti-LGBTQ attitudes. John Oliver stated that Pence's pet rabbit was the one thing he liked about Pence, and that because of this, he had taken issue with the real-life Marlon Bundo having to make a stop at the anti-LGBTQ organization Focus on the Family during an upcoming promotional book tour with the Pences.

The day of publication was intentionally the day before the publication of the Pences' book. One day after its release, the book overtook James Comey's book A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership to become the No. 1 book on Amazon. For 26 non-consecutive weeks, A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo was on The New York Times Children's Picture Books Bestsellers list, becoming No. 1 the week of July 15, 2018. It also topped the e-book sales, thus making the two versions of the book No. 1 and No. 2 on overall Amazon book sales, with the printed edition selling the most of the two. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo sold much better than the Pence book it parodied, which climbed to No. 4 in the week after publication. In the first two days, 180,000 copies were sold.