by Alex Foulkes (Author)
The Nevermoor series meets Hotel Transylvania in this dazzling debut middle grade adventure set in a world of talking spiders, living forests, and haunted castles about a vampire girl who wants to fit in but first must defeat an evil ghost.
After one hundred years of being a vampire, it's time for Eleonora to have her Birthnight. Since Leo's last rite of passage, her Grimwalk, ended with her losing her right leg and a good deal of her confidence, she's hoping to redeem herself in the eyes of her mother, the fearsome Lady Sieglinde. All Leo has to do is hunt down and kill her first prey, and she already has the perfect plan. After all, who will miss an orphan from the bleak St. Frieda's Home for Unwanted Children? But an accidental fire causes more death and destruction than Leo bargained for. Instead of killing one carefully selected victim, she's created several ghosts from the orphanage residents. And one sinister specter, the Orphanmaster, is poised to terrorize the living residents in a nearby town. To stop him and try to undo some of the mess she's made, Leo must team up with the orphan ghost Minna. Will Leo have the chance to prove herself as a vampire before her Birthnight is over, or will she discover that there are no winners in the battle of undead versus undead?
WorldCat is the world's largest library catalog, helping you find library materials online.
Luminous gray-skinned Lady Eleonore von Motteberg, or Leo, as she prefers, has reached a young vampire's rite of passage: at 111 years old, she's ready to hunt and eat her first human. After an accident left Leo without a right leg, her confidence never quite recovered, but her distant, perfect mother and querulous older sister expect her to complete her Hunt of the Waxing Moon on the first try. Her father is frequently absorbed in experiments, and her butler-knight, Marged, has high expectations for her charge. When Leo's first hunt doesn't go as planned, she is left with a significant problem: there are now two cued-white ghosts loose in the town of Otto's End. Minna has unfinished business with the other, the Orphanmaster, and she expects Leo's help. As the duo races against the clock to defeat the Orphanmaster before he grows too powerful, they begin an unlikely friendship as they learn more about their own strengths. Young readers will find the protagonists' exploration of friendship, consequences, and the world resonant. With light humor and paranormal charm, Foulkes's voice shines in this spooky debut. Ages 8-12. (Nov.)
Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.