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Summary
Summary
"Giracula...so fun to say aloud, it's almost worth purchasing the book for the title alone...a loveable cartoon creature...appealing to fans of giraffes, vampires, or protagonists with a sweet tooth." --School Library Journal
Grab your fangs and go batty with Giracula, a long-necked vampire with a love of dessert. Just in time for the spookiest season comes the story of how an unexpected bite led to a string of bakery crimes. Hide your pies, tarts, and cakes because this vampire has a taste for treats!
Halloween just got a little bit sweeter.
About the BUMP IN THE NIGHT Series
What do you get when Frank the class frog meets disaster on a weekend stay with a science-savy student? Frogenstein of course!
And what do you get when you cross a 6-foot neck with vampire bats? A vampire giraffe with-- what else? -- a sweet tooth.
Little ghosts and goblins love scary stories. The BUMP IN THE NIGHT Series puts silly twists on classic favorites sure to bring smiles (not screams!).
BUMP IN THE NIGHT monsters are a Halloween treat.
Praise for BUMP IN THE NIGHT
"Giracula...so fun to say aloud, it's almost worth purchasing the book for the title alone...a loveable cartoon creature...appealing to fans of giraffes, vampires, or protagonists with a sweet tooth." --School Library Journal
"Tuchman draws the gangly protagonist with a googly eyed energy that should amuse readers through the numerous sugar-driven scrapes." --Publishers Weekly
Author Notes
Caroline Watkins is the Assistant Publisher at Persnickety Press and now, a first time author. From an early age, she was reading and writing and kept a copy of Matilda by Roald Dahl under her pillow. A graduate of UNC and Boston College, she turned her social work education into a career inchildren's literature. Caroline lives inRaleigh, North Carolina.
Mark Tuchman is the creative director of School Library Journal . At home, he is dad to three very creative children who direct him on his illustration projects. Most recently, he illustrated Lauren Wohl's Raccoon River Kids Adventures series (also Persnickety Press). Mark's publishing debut, many years ago, was a comic book about the beginnings--and unique educational philosophy--of his alma mater, Hampshire College. Mark and his family live in Brooklyn, New York.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
When a vampire bat bites a giraffe with a sweet tooth--after all, his species has "the longest, the strongest,/ the best necks in sight" --the results aren't exactly suave. The newly dubbed Giracula's fangs are adorably petite, his "black, silken cloak" is clearly designed for someone much shorter, and flying poses its own inelegant problems. Most notable, however, is what Giracula now craves: not blood, like a classic vampire, but sweets. His obsession with the town bakery--he can't resist breaking in and tearing through its stock--is resolved when a young pastry enthusiast becomes his confidante and personal baker. The ending feels abrupt, and Watkins's rhymes lack zip, but Tuchman draws the gangly protagonist with a googly eyed energy that should amuse readers through the numerous sugar-driven scrapes. Ages 3--7. (Aug.)
Kirkus Review
When vampire bats go for the longest necks around, Giracula is the result.When the poor giraffe awakens, he has fangs and a cloak, though the latter comes off in a collision with a drone (and is back in place again a page turn later). He lands right in front of a bakery, and a good thing this is, as this vampiric giraffe craves sweets instead of blood, for no articulated reason. "Never before had our / friend felt like this. / He'd go bonkers, BANANAS / without a treat fix!" Indeed, by the time the treats are gone, the shop is a mess, and his tummy is aching with all the sugar he's consumed. The townspeople catch him on his second sweets raid, his mouth dripping cherry-pie filling, and they assume the worst, all save a dark-haired girl with brown skin who offers a deal: She'll make him treats if he'll stop stealing. But this is never depicted. Instead, Giracula is pictured in a full tuxedo against a castle backdrop, a light-skinned child offering him a chocolate bar while the text reads that the town's had no more trouble since the monster left. Watkins' rhymes can be quite rough ("clouds" and "sounds," "manners" and "answers"), and the scansion occasionally falters. Tuchman's cartoon illustrations are amusing enough, but they are not enough to draw readers back again.A head-scratcher and series opener best left to the bats and other things that go bump in the night. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.