The Vampire of Verdonia - Softcover

Grade 3-5 Setting: The Kingdom of Verdonia, a mountainous, rainy, boring country where nothing ever happens. Characters: Sarah Jane, the most well-behaved child in Verdonia; Rumbold, her talking cat; Sarah Jane's aunts, three old, ugly, bad-tempered greedy women who abuse Sarah Jane; Princess Louisa, good on the outside, nasty inside; Count Vlad Dracula, Louisa's uncle. Plot: Tired of being good, even when her aunts beat her, Sarah Jane takes up mischief-making under the secret tutelage of Princess Louisa. This winds up with Sarah Jane being presented to Count Vlad for his dinner. With Rumbold's unwitting help she escapes, Louisa is exposed, and Sarah Jane's aunts are driven from the house. Smooth writing and appropriate illustrations cannot redeem unsympathetic characters and an unbelievable plot. The story isn't fantastic enough for fantasy and it's not realistic enough for realistic fiction. For nasty, disgusting old ladies abusing innocent children, stick with Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach (Knopf, 1961). For a really good vampire story, it's hard to beat Nancy Garden's Prisoner of Vampires (Farrar, 1984). Send this one back to Verdonia. Lisa Smith, Cold Spring Harbor Library, N.Y.
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