From My Reading Chair…
I love, love, LOVE books for little ones based around spookier characters. Werewolves, witches, zombies... all of ’em! Not sure if you’ve noticed... ahem. Stoker’s Dracula is also one of my all-time favourite books, so a BabyLit Classics board book introducing the newest generation to one of spooky literature’s biggest icons should have been absolute perfection.
And... it’s not far off. At first.
Jennifer Adams uses counting to introduce the characters, settings and imagery of Stoker’s novel: 1 castle, 2 friends named Mina and Lucy, 3 wolves and so on. It is a very pared-back first introduction to the world of Dracula, which works beautifully for its audience. Repetitive counting gives little readers a familiar route into a much larger story, while building vocabulary and offering families plenty to point at, name and discover together. Cool. Still totes on board!
Alison Oliver translates that gothic world into bold, clean compositions designed for very young eyes. Her illustrations make the literary references approachable without draining them of all their atmosphere. Fab. I’m in it now. I’m counting along, thoroughly enjoying myself and then, with far more horror, dread and terror than the Count himself could ever muster... I reach the end.
WHERE IS DRACULA?!
The icon. The main man. The legendary vampire whose name is emblazoned across the cover?! I reread the book several times, practically studying it under a microscope, convinced that a tiny Dracula must be concealed somewhere in the artwork, but nope.
Including even one hidden vampire would have created a brilliant visual game and given rereaders something extra to hunt for.
Unless, of course, his absence was an intentional ploy to make us spend longer poring over every page. In which case... I applaud your wicked minds!
Creep On Reading, Pumpkins!