Dear Vampa

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.

Publishers Weekly

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.)

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.