Fangsgiving

PreS-Gr 2—Vlad the Vampire's family can not forego the family drama and spectacle of creating the perfect Thanksgiving, in this silly take on holiday dinner. Vlad and his friends from Fright Club—Witch, Ghost, Mummy, and Frankenstein—have been busy all night preparing the perfect Thanksgiving for Vlad's family. However, when the family arrive they have a different ideas about meal preparation that include eyeballs, earwax, maggot meatballs, and other unappetizing treats. When the lights go out, Spike, the family's monstrous dog, devours everything, "Thanksgiving was gone!" This is the last straw for Vlad and he loses his cool, proclaiming the Vampire Family, "ruined Thanksgiving." With Halloween still fresh in the minds of children, Long's use of monsters to portray a family Thanksgiving is ingenious. Similar to Valensteins and Fright Club, Long utilized a dark palette to create an ironic mood; however the monstrous characters are portrayed in a nonthreatening way for young readers.