Vampirina at the Beach

Written by Anne Marie Pace
Illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Published in 2017

Why we picked this book:
T always wants a spooky book from the library, so when I saw a vampire I offered it to him. He plopped himself down on the floor and started flipping through the pages. Although it isn't actually spooky, two fold-out pages won him over.

Mom and Son's Review
(Son - age 2 years and 11 months)

A child vampire attends a monsters' beach bash.

Looking only at the text of this story, you will find a few suggestions for beach activities, along with safety tips. The illustrations, however, provide a richer story: we read this several times back to back and discovered something new in the illustrations each time. It was fun to talk about all the different mythical creatures and what they were doing, like a mummy who seeks sunken treasure with a metal detector and a young werewolf who warily eyes the rising moon. What appears at first to be a simple beach visit is, upon examination, a huge beach festival with contests, a multitude of monsters, and fun little details like the courtship of a mermaid and the vampire dad's pained expression at being dressed in a hula skirt.

After reading:

Mom: Tell me what the best part of this book was, T.

Son: It was when you get to lift those flaps.
(Two pages fold out to make a four page spread of all the monsters in a hula contest; this was the selling point for him.)

Mom: Do you think if other children got this book they would like it?

Son: No, it wasn't a spooky one. Vampirina books aren't very spooky.
(Even with this complaint, he asked to read it again and again and again.)

Mom: Who might like this book...Why?

Son: G...because it is a little orange-y. I think pink is a little orange-y.
(Vampirina wears pink and black.)

Mom: What would you want to tell G about this book?

Son: The bats are neat!