Dear Vampa

by Ross Collins, Ross Collins (Illustrator)

Overview

The Pires are cursed with new neighbors. Things were just fine on Nostfer Avenue until the Wolfsons arrived. There seems to be no end to the new family's strange rituals. They stay up all day long, lock their windows at night, and bathe—in sunshine. What's a nice vampire family to do?

Ross Collins has created an ironic, laugh-out-loud story that invites you to think about accepting others—perhaps your neighbors are less different than you think.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062183859
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/15/2011
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Ross Collins is not a vampire but has aspirations to be one. He likes to dress in black and drink tomato juice, but the police have advised him to stop there. He is the author and illustrator of many books for children, including Medusa Jones, Busy Night, and Germs. He lurks in a haunted castle in Scotland.

Editorial Reviews

Writing to his grandfather back in Transylvania, boy vampire Bram Pire pens a litany of Addams family-style complaints about the new neighbors, e.g., "The Wolfsons stay up all day long. We haven't had any sleep in weeks." The Wolfsons are as healthy and sun-kissed as the Pires are pale and dark-the Pires are drawn in black, white and red, while the Wolfsons are shown in full color, even when the families appear together. Collins's (Medusa Jones) black, angular vampires lace the comedy with a drop of real creepiness. The indignities continue to pile up, but when the Wolfsons shoot down their neighbors with slingshots when they fly out of their house in bat form, it's too much: "Mom asks if you can get the guest crypt ready for us," Bram writes. Collins tucks in plenty of subtle references for parental enjoyment, and young vampire fans will enjoy (and perhaps be secretly relieved by) the vampires' beleaguered state. Ages 3-8. (Sept.)

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Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 2—The majority of this tale is written in the form of a letter from Bram Pire to his "Vampa." The Pire family, with their pointed fingers, pointed ears, and fangs, is planning to move back to Transylvania to stay in Vampa's "guest crypt" for a while as they are most unhappy with their new neighbors. The house next door was bought by some unusual and vividly colorful folks: they enjoy sunshine, stay up all day, and sleep all night with their windows locked up tight. When the Pires take off for "an evening flutter" in the form of bats, the Wolfsons (hint, hint) shoot them down with slingshots. Enough is enough, and the Pires, depicted only in black and white with touches of red, pack up their things. A spread shows some of the belongings they are taking: a skull safely covered in bubble wrap, a caged vulture, a plaque reading "Tomb, Sweet Tomb," a book entitled Good Neck Guide, and a coffin. As the moving van drives off in the light of a full moon, something very strange begins happening to the Wolfsons. Good fun for vampire fans.—Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI

School Library Journal

In a letter to his Transylvanian grandfather young Bram Pire tallies complaints against his new next-door neighbors the Wolfsons: They stay up and make noise all day. They sit out in the sunlight. They lock their windows at night (very inconsiderate). They have strange ideas about Halloween costumes. There's nothing for it but to move back to Transylvania. In contrast to the busy, exuberant, brightly colored Wolfson family in Collins' rapidly sketched cartoon scenes, the black-and-white Pires stand about in pointy-eared bewilderment. The author saves a twist for the end, having the Wolfsons undergo a sudden transformation (hint: check their name) as they watch the Pires huffily depart. Patricia Polacco's The Graves Family (2003) would doubtless have made more resilient neighbors. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews