Random Acts of Publicity Week: Tuesday

by Jacqueline Jules

VAMPIRE SCHOOL
A Series for Young Readers to Bite Into

The Harry Potter books allowed older readers to imagine what it would be like to attend an academy for wizards. The Vampire School series gives younger readers a similar experience as they laugh out loud over nine-year-old vampires learning cloak-swishing, scary-staring, and the proper way to floss their fangs.

Best of all are the mishaps which occur in the process of learning how to turn into bats. On the first try, the main character, Lee, only manages to change his arms, and his friend Billy changes himself into a cat.

However, with a little practice, POP! POP! POP! all the little vampires learn how to make the amusing magical chants properly turn them into bats and POP! POP! POP! back into vampires.

In Book #1, Casketball Capers, Lee enlists the help of a real live bat to cleverly defeat a werewolf with bad sportsmanship. A mummy referee, whose view of the game is obstructed by slipping bandages, is absolutely hysterical!

In Book #2, Ghoul Trip, Miss Gargoyle takes her class for a nighttime trip to the county fair. They go on a bus driven by a zombie named Mr. E. Gore because the sight of 25 bats landing in the middle of the fair might frighten the “Fangless folk.” At the fair, Lee and his friends, Bella, Billy, and Ollie, frighten a gang of robbers until they plead with the police to be put in jail, where they will be safe from ghouls and monsters.

Peter Bently and Chris Harrison have created a delightful romp for newly independent readers. Each book has six short chapters, big font, and hilarious illustrations. And since kids love reading about vampires, zombies, mummies, werewolves, and other types of ghouls—the Vampire School series should be something they will enjoying taking a big bite out of.

Jacqueline Jules is the author of the Zapato Power series and Duck for Turkey Day. She is also a blogger at Pencil Tips Writing Workshop, a group blog of children’s authors sharing practical tips and observations on the art of writing. The fourth book in the Zapato Power series will be published in Spring 2012.