From My Reading Chair…
Heads up, Pumpkins: there is MAGIC hiding in plain sight all around you!
“And we hurry about in our own little worlds… But everyone’s busy with traffic and phones…”
Wow. Okay, Úna!
I was NOT expecting such a subtle yet profound philosophical, socio-anthropological and historical lesson to be woven so tightly into a children’s picture book about following a vampire on his nightly walk around Dublin, yet here we all are!
Have You Seen the Dublin Vampire? is a beautiful reminder that if we pause, look up from our distractions, question our surroundings and properly notice the world once in a while, we may be lucky enough to spot the MAGIC of life (and dead!) all around us.
Which is actually rather easy to do while reading this picture book, thanks to the distinctive illustrative world Úna Woods has created. Her use of rhyme, repetition, pattern and colour gives the journey its own gentle night-time pulse, while the spreads are busy with details that reward the very act of looking more closely. The library and Halloween double-page spreads are particularly bold, bright beauties!
The vampire (and his bat!) leads us past the Liffey, Trinity College, Grafton Street, Temple Bar Square and the Natural History Museum during his nocturnal wanderings. In doing so, this city-specific picture book becomes an unexpected tour guide. I can personally guarantee that I will be searching for the Dublin Vampire in every one of these locations come Halloween!
Spooky book lovers should also keep their beady little eyeballs open for the subtle references to Dublin’s rich literary heritage, particularly Bram Stoker, creator of Dracula, who was born in Clontarf. What a lovely little thread to weave through a book about the city’s own wandering vampire.
Thank you, Úna, for this delightful mixture of rhyme, pattern, colour, repetition, inclusivity, magic and spooky tourism!
Creep On Reading, Pumpkins!