Despeyroux, Denise. The Big Book of Vampires. Tundra
Books 112p $17.95 978-1-77049-371-1 2012 secondary VG-BN Story
collection
This
is a collection of vampire
lore from around the world. As indicated by the eye-catching die-cut cover depicting a baleful pair of red eyes
staring through the silhouette of a bat, Despeyroux (”Dark Graphic Tales by
Edgar Allan Poe,” and “The Big Book of Fairies”) has an affinity for gathering
anthologies of arresting short stories with great appeal to secondary
readers. The Big Book of Vampires
is no exception.
Gathered here are nine engaging adaptations (six to eight pages each) of outstanding terror/vampire stories representing authors from the 19th century. In addition to familiar tales, such as Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” Despeyroux offers less familiar selections, such as Tolstoy’s “The Family of the Vurdalak,” Hoffmann’s “Vampirism”(thought to be the first tale where the vampire is of the nobility, and female!), as well as “Vampire’s Honor,” from The Thousand and One Nights. The stories span the globe, and stretch the reader’s perception of the vampire genre and its origins.
Evocative and eerily disturbing illustrations by Fernando Falcone embellish the volume’s lavish layout and atmospheric palette. Falcone’s thin, misty figures carry the story when the text is too abbreviated (for example, Polidori’s “The Vampire”).
The prose, even though it has been adapted from the original 19th-century manuscripts, is more Anne Rice than Stephenie Meyer in the telling. Though they may find it a little daunting, teens fascinated by vampires will enjoy this intriguing volume.
Gathered here are nine engaging adaptations (six to eight pages each) of outstanding terror/vampire stories representing authors from the 19th century. In addition to familiar tales, such as Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” Despeyroux offers less familiar selections, such as Tolstoy’s “The Family of the Vurdalak,” Hoffmann’s “Vampirism”(thought to be the first tale where the vampire is of the nobility, and female!), as well as “Vampire’s Honor,” from The Thousand and One Nights. The stories span the globe, and stretch the reader’s perception of the vampire genre and its origins.
Evocative and eerily disturbing illustrations by Fernando Falcone embellish the volume’s lavish layout and atmospheric palette. Falcone’s thin, misty figures carry the story when the text is too abbreviated (for example, Polidori’s “The Vampire”).
The prose, even though it has been adapted from the original 19th-century manuscripts, is more Anne Rice than Stephenie Meyer in the telling. Though they may find it a little daunting, teens fascinated by vampires will enjoy this intriguing volume.
Vampires--Literary
collections --Hilary
Welliver
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